Wbrt

Has anyone had whole brain radiation therapy after surgery to remove their brain met and what were the temporary and long term side effects? I have to make some decisions this week and need info . Thanks

I had WB and the side effect for me were the hair does not grow in as well, it effected my hearing mildly, my vision is no longer 20/20. Over time I see that I forget names. and

[StephN]

Hello -
Several of the members here have had Gamma Knife or other radiosurgery for just a few mets. These types of noninvasive procedures are easier on the congitive abilities and we don't lose our hair. Mine slightly thinned in one area as I had the beams trained on a larger tumor for almost one hour. But it grew back.

The Gamma Knife or similar procedure just takes one day in and out. Not like the whole brain radiation that takes day after day.

My tumors have never grown back after 4 years since my Gamma Knife. All the best!

[GemmaG]

Hi,
I've completed WBRT in Sept. and had 20 treatments.
My hair doesn't seems like it's gonna grow back :-(
Too many side effects for me. I'm still nauseated from it.
Sorry, I'm not trying to scare you. I'll see my radiation onc. next week to discuss my nausea.
Good luck to you. Prayers coming your way.

Gemma

[Joan M]

Hi,

I recently had surgery to remove one brain met and will follow up with radiation in a few weeks. Since you had only one met you might want to ask about stereotatic radiotherapy (SRT) to treat just the area where the met was. You would have fewer long- and short-term side effects than you would with wbr.

Also, just because you've had one brain met, there's no guarantee there will be others (even though doctors frequently tell patients that since it's a met in the brain, there will be more in the brain). And SRT can be used to treat several mets, as well, either at the same time or if others pop up.

There are different kinds of treatments. Steph mentioned the Gamma Knife. There's also the Cyber Knife (these are both brand names). I'll be having SRT with a different kind of machine.

Joan

[Ceesun]

Why do docs say there will be more? Ceesun

[Joan M]

Hi Cathy,

Among other things, a difference between primary tumors and metastases is that mets frequently come in plural, or more than one, while primaries are single tumors. So a doctor might say to a patient with bc mets that they should do wbr because other mets may develop.

Today though with many cancer patients trying to be proactive with scans, mets are frequently singular. I had one lung met found on a routine scan, but even after it was removed by a wedge rection and recurred a year later and was zapped, I still had no other lung mets, so maybe that's not a good example. I had one brain met, but then I was doing annual MRIs of the brain. However, if I hadn't been doing the scans when my bc spread last year to my lung, more brain mets may have developed and caused symptoms. I didn't have any symptoms because the met was discovered by the scan first.

So, sometimes I think a doctor might suggest wbr in a mets situation.

Also, when a cancer patient presents with one tumor in a secondary location, often a biopsy is performed to rule out another primary cancer, such as in the lung (I had a biopsy), and also in the liver.

Joan

[Ceesun]

Thanks Joan, hope you are well. Ceesun