What is the best treatment for Glioblastoma Multiforme if traditional Radiation and Temodar are not working?
342998
Ok, you can try BCNU. This is FDA approved for GBM.  There are some other things that are not approved that they may try as well.  Like:  Camptosar, oral Etoposide, or even oral Gleevec. I don't think there is any data published about these drugs, but sometimes when there is nothing left, you just have to try.  But, BCNU is definitely approved.  Good luck to this patient.\n\nI just want to comment on the answer below.  I know a lot of people with GBM.  Some have survived 2 years, some even longer, with treatment.  I know one guy who is alive after 4 years (extremely unusual).  Yes, GBM is the worst kind of brain cancer, but it's not completely worthless to try other treatment if Temodar has stopped working.
262090
You need to know what type of cancer cell.\nGlioblastoma Multiforme is one type...bad one...\nFind out what type and then do a medical literature search...pubmed...I don't know the web address but you can yahoo search it
323847
Hi There, My dad had it, he was 81.  I had gotten a lot of info from the American Cancer Society.  Try this link: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp.  There is info there about trials and treatments.  On certain patients (not my dad) they can do chemo.  In Multiple Myeloma the symptoms can be treated, but there is no cure.  My dad received steroid treatment.  He had gotten radiation to a couple of really painful areas and it seemed to help him a lot.  Also he got blood transfusions when his blood count was off and that helped too.  He did end up going on dialysis because as the cancer eats the bone, calcium is released into the system and the kidneys can't handle too much calcium.  Sometimes patients receive stem cell transplants. Good luck to the patient & family.  My thoughts and prayers are with you.
969097
what you are describing is a cancer between the hormonal and nervous system. Below are some treatment therapies:\n\n[edit] Surgery and chemotherapy\nSurgery is the only therapy that can cure GEP-NETs. However, the typical delay in diagnosis, giving the tumor the opportunity to metastasize, makes most GEP-NETs ineligible for surgery (non-resectable).\n\nThere is "no established standard therapy for the liver metastasis of pancreatic endocrine tumors" (Sato et al. 2000, [12]). The most common nonsurgical therapy for all GEP-NETs is chemotherapy, although chemotherapy is reported to be largely ineffective for carcinoids, not particularly durable (long-lasting) for PETs, and inappropriate for PETs of nonpancreatic origin.\n\nWhen chemotherapy fails, the most common therapy, in the United States, is more chemotherapy, with a different set of agents. Some studies have shown that the benefit from one agent is not highly predictive of the benefit from another agent, except that the long-term benefit of any agent is likely to be low.\n\nStrong uptake of somatostatin analogs is a negative indication for chemo.\n\n\n[edit] Symptomatic relief\nThere are two major somatostatin-analog-based targeted therapies. The first of the two therapies provides symptomatic relief for patients with secretory tumors. In effect, somatostatin given subcutaneously or intramuscularly "clogs up" the receptors, blocking the secretion of hormones from the tumor cells. Thus a patient who might otherwise die from severe diarrhea caused by a secretory tumor can gain additional years of life.\n\nSpecific counter-hormones or other hormone-blocking medications are sometimes also used to provide symptomatic relief.\n\n\n[edit] Hormone-delivered radiotherapy\nThe second of the two major somatostatin-analog-based targeted therapies is called peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT), though we might simply call it hormone-delivered radiotherapy. In this form of radioisotope therapy (RIT), radioactive substances (called radionuclides or radioligands) are chemically conjugated with hormones (peptides or neuroamines); the combination is given intravenously to a patient who has good uptake of the chosen hormone. The tumor cells pull the hormone to them, and the attached radiation kills nearby cells. In patients with strongly overexpressing tumor cells, nearly all the radiation either sticks to the tumors or is excreted in urine. As Rufini et alia say, GEP-NETs "are characterized by the presence of neuroamine uptake mechanisms and/or peptide receptors at the cell membrane, and these features constitute the basis of the clinical use of specific radiolabeled ligands, both for imaging and therapy" (Rufini, Calcagni, and Baum 2006, [13]).\n\nThe use of PRRT for GEP-NETs is similar to the use of iodine-131 as a standard therapy (in use since 1943) for nonmedullary thyroid tumors (which are not GEP-NETs). Thyroid cells (whether normal or neoplastic) tend to be avid for iodine, and nearby cells are killed when iodine-131 is infused into the bloodstream and is soon attracted to thyroid cells. Similarly, overexpressing GEP-NET cells (neoplastic cells only) are avid for somatostatin analogs, and nearby cells are killed when radionuclides attached to somatostatin analogs are infused into the bloodstream and are soon attracted to the tumor cells. In both therapies, hormonal targeting delivers a much higher dose of radiation than external beam radiation could safely deliver.\n\nAs of 2006, PRRT is available in at least dozen medical centers in Europe. In the USA it is FDA-approved, and available at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, but using a radionuclide, indium-111, that is vastly weaker than the lutetium-177 and the even stronger yttrium-90 used on the European continent. In the UK, only the radionuclide metaiodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG) is licensed (but GEP-NETs are rarely avid for MIBG). PRRT with lutetium or yttrium is nowhere an "approved" t
577
Please listen to me as I am only here to help. You have to do exactly as I say. Go to the website and look up CESIUM CHLORIDE AND OXYGEN DROPS. The other ones could be green algae and paw paw, etc etc. These medicines are known in the medical field, but they dont talk about it. Because these are natural remedies with no toxic chemicals in it. So, thats why they cant profit from it. If they cant profit, they dont sell. I mean, some are even made of mushrooms that you can grow anywhere. Why would they promote this? These doctors will never make money. So, the FDA has put a restriction on these remedies. They cannot say anything about cancer on their labels. They have to be sold as vitamins or health products. But, the website can tell you how to use it, and what cancers it can cure. See how they are suppressing the world? In fact these treatments can cure up to 90% of patients that doctors have already given up on. Chemo therapy is not a therapy. I would rather die then go through with that. They try to kill your cancer with chemicals and radiation. If they kill all your cancer before they kill all your body cells, then they consider you cured. But, what about after that? Your body is damaged and your health deteriorated. There is almost no recovery to this. How many people you know live past 5 years after chemo therapy? Not much if any at all. And compared to the masses, its almost nothing. What do you have to live with after chemo? Your body is not sunburned, its practically microwaved. CESIUM CHLORIDE can be taken with OXYGEN DROPS. Go to the websites. You can go to these websites and they will give a whole package for you to buy. You can take these medicines over the course of 3 months, a year, or whatever they prescribe. After your mom is feeling well, taking it for about 2 months or more, you can almost garauntee that you are cured. But, you have to listen to them and take it till they tell you to stop. They even cure certain 3rd stage cancers with a 90% success rate. But, time is of the essence so I urge you to buy it as soon as possible and take next day delivery or something. I wish you the best of luck in the future. But, heed my warning, do not go into chemo. They always tell you something fuzzy like, oh..you might live another 2 years, or you might die right away..etc etc....Then how do you decide? But, they always say that people who have been on chemo will only live a maximum of X years after that.  So, if you do exactly what I say, not only will you have a chance to survive, but all your friends that may get cancer...
653227
Bad news:  this is not curable\nGood news:  if the cancer mets are restricted to her bones only, she may have many years left.  Zometa (zoledronic acid) is definitely a good option, as is Taxotere (very well tolerated chemotherapy).  She DEFINITELY needs to have  Her-2 neu test to see if she would benefit from Herceptin (they should be able to perform this test on the tissue they have from her previous surgery, or on new tissue if she has another biopsy).  \n\nAlso, if she is getting her period regularly, her doctor may advise ovarian ablation or lupron therapy, since she is PR +.  \n\nGood luck on the PET scan.
806177
Congratulations! Tarceva works only about 10-15% of the time. But it is great because it has much fewer side effects than chemotherapy. It will not get rid of the cancer forever though but you should enjoy the ride until a new drug comes out (usually every year). If it causes so much rash or diarrhea, try stop it for a week and restart it at the same dosage. Don't cut down on the dosage and don't just give it up. Talk to your cancer doc.
51003
At 50, 5 years ago, I got prostate cancer. I had been involved with many doctors on a large website project so I had access to 12 different urologists and all the information available on the Internet. In the end, after considering radiation and seed implants I finally opted for surgery. I am glad I did, although, had I waited another 4 weeks my doctor would have been doing the new laprascopic method, which is much easier on the patient. My doctor here in Orange County swears he'll never go back to the old style radical prostectomy (sp?) where they slit you up the middle.\n\nEach individual has to make their own choice however. There are problems with radiation that you never hear about, like rectal problems or radiation seeds that make their way to other parts of the body and cause severe damage. \n\nGet educated above all. I have included a favorite site below.
880999
I don't know.\n\nI can tell you this:  Lung cancer has one of the worst prognosis there is.  If the patient is still alive in 5 years after commencing therapy, even if they have been in a coma and are not expected to reawaken, that is called a success story, as long as they are cancer free.  That is a fact.\n\nYou should look into Gerson therapy, Budwig therapy, alkaline diet, filtering both drinking and bath water, raw 100percent vegan diet, hyperthermia treatments.  At the very least, you should research what the Burzynski clinic has to offer.  They do free clinical trials, and take some types of medical insurance.  They are more conventional than the other therapies I mention, but without the terrible damage and life threatening sickness caused by chemotherapy.  (Chemotherapy itself may kill more people than cancer.  Not many people know that, but chem is very dangerous.)\n\nBurzynski clinic has real doctors and nurses, and I have read many good thing about them.  Please, if you do not look into the other things I mention, then at least look into what Burzynski clinic has to offer.  Here is a link:\nhttp://www.cancermed.com/\n\nMay the Lord bless you both, and may you both have a peaceful eternity.
909504
The good news is that breast cancer is very treatable today.  My Mom was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer two years ago.  (There is no Stage V)\n\nShe was on a few different kinds of chemotherapy, I remember Taxotere being one of them.  She also took medicines to bind estrogen and androgens since her cancer was estrogen receptor positive.  That is, estrogen feeds the tumors.\n\nOnce the tumor markers were down to a normal level, my Mom then had a lumpectomy and followup radiation.\n\nToday, about 2 years later, my Mom is in remission and cancer free!!  It can happpen!  I hope your relative has a great story to tell too!!
1025375
Stanislaw Burzynski M.D. Ph.D. has a clinic in Houston Texas where he treats various kinds of cancer. Although he has employed this therapy with patients since 1976, his treatment is still not FDA approved and is therefore only available to those patients who meet rigid FDA criteria. \n\nDo a search, there's multiple sites. Read and decide for yourself.
929214
I'm so sorry about your fiance's situation. You all are in my prayers.\nOne suggestion would be to contact Cancer Treatment Centers of America. They are a system of Hospitals with campuses across the country that specialize in both conventional and alternative treatments of advanced cancers that have failed conventional treatments. Their website is: http://www.cancercenter.com .\nAnother resource I would suggest would be the book, "Beating Cancer with Nutrition" by Dr. Patrick Quillin (Amazon.com link: http://www.amazon.com/Beating-Cancer-Nutrition-Patrick-Quillin/dp/096383729X/sr=8-1/qid=1164205725/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-5041657-6768651?ie=UTF8&s=books)\nAlso, contact your local branch of the American Cancer Society at http://www.cancer.org. Again, my wishes go out to your fiance for a full recovery. Hope this can help.
1106071
I have no idea on that med but I see a neurologist and I take Imitrex injections and that works great for me I'm assuming you have already tried that but I also take Topamax daily to prevent them. The meds were originally for people with Epilepsy but have recently been patented for Migraine prevention and work well for me. Sorry I can't help more but I wouldn't try anything without consulting your doctor. Especially not something in a magazine or something because it may help his headaches and then cause other problems in the future.
448618
Well, Brain tumors are not good as a general rule. My son had diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.  It was in his brain stem. So it affected his breathing, his walking, ect.. but was able to always think clearly. He was fully aware of what was happening to him. I have know people to survive brain tumors. There is also a difference between brain cancer, and brain tumors. Most brain tumors are not maglignant. But treated as such. There is an excellant book call the primer for brain tumors. It is online. It explains all the types of brain tumors.
639072
Consult your physician with regards to what to do about your brain tumor.  There are so many different kinds that I don't feel comfortable trying to answer.\n\nFor both your heart and your bloodpressure your going to want to do the following:\n\nLose weight.\nChange your diet to eliminate salty and sugary foods.\nResearch medicines to lower blood pressure but be careful of the side effects.\nExcercise.\n\nBeyond that I don't know.  You should have some powerful pain killers available to you by perscription.  Meditation might also the something you'll want to look into for pain management.  Also if your able to make the above lifestyle changes you should start to feel a little better.\n\nWishing you the best,\n\nArmus
870247
Many patients travel from United States of America and UK to get low cost of Stereotactic Radiotherapy in India. One of the most frequently asked questions when considering Stereotactic Radiotherapy is "how much?" and “what is the price of surgery in India?”\n\nOftentimes, patients choose their surgeon on the basis of price. \nThe cost of Stereotactic Radiotherapy is very affordable in India and costs are much lower when compared to the United States, UK and other countries. However, since the success of your surgery is largely dependent on your choice of surgeon, cost should not be your main consideration for your decision to undergo Stereotactic Radiotherapy in India.\n\nI checked out the website of Forerunners Healthcare –which is the premier most medical tourism company in India offering low cost surgery in India to International Patients. They have served more than 400 International patients from across the globe (specially US and UK) to get low cost affordable surgery in India at the best Hospitals and Medical Institutions. And the general price of the Stereotactic Radiotherapy is as follows-\n\nThe Cost of Stereotactic Radiotherapy in India is $ 2,200.\n\nhttp://www.forerunnershealthcare.com\n\nIn India, any licensed medical doctor can perform Stereotactic Radiotherapy. To avoid unsatisfactory results, it is best to choose a surgeon who has completed an accredited residency-training program in Stereotactic Radiotherapy. He should have extensive experience in the procedure you will undergo. That’s when Forerunners Healthcare come into picture-helping you get the best surgeon for your surgery at the most affordable prices in the best Hospitals of India.\n\nYour surgeon's skill can make all the difference between a good and an average result. Thus, although it is understandable that price is one of the considerations in your choice of surgeon, it is important to remember that the main consideration should be your surgeon's professional qualifications and experience.\n\nBesides that you should look into other issues related to traveling abroad, which is your visa, passport, climate, cultural issues and language barrier. Although language is not a problem in India –as most of the people are well verse in English. But you should make sure that you have a reliable hand holding person to guide you through the various steps of getting medical treatment and surgery in India.\n\n\nHope this helps.
893007
Standard of care in that situation would be oral steroids (Decadron in pill form along with a medication to block acid secretions in the stomach) and a brief course of whole-brain radiotherapy... unless she is otherwise in such poor condition aside from the brain lesions that they suggest not doing the radiation.\n\nThe textbook answer on median survival (50% still alive) would be:\n\n1 month with no treatment.\n\n2 months with steroids\n\n6 months with whole-brain radiotherapy.\n\nAloha