 | Chemotherapy treatment for Brain Metastases and Breast Cancer tumor |
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My mom was diagnozed with Brain Metastases the other day. She had a
breast cancer 1.5 years ago - one of her breasts was totally removed
and she seemed to be alright after that. A week ago, however, she
began having headaches and nausea. The brain scan showed a wide-spread
tumor that doctors seem to agree it moved from her breast. She's about
to start her radio in a week, followed by a chemo. What are the best chemo drugs available for her condition ?
What are her chances of survival ?
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-The treatment for the brain mets is the radiotherapy, as chemo does not get
into the brain very well. The chemo is because patients with brain mets
almost always have disease i other parts of the body. The median survival for a patient with brain mets due to breast cancer is
about 4-5 months. This is median, though, which means that half the patients
do better, and half do worse. -There is no good answer to the treatment of widespread metastatic lesions.
I would defer a decision on chemotherapy until after your mom has had her
radiation therapy. The taxanes will cross the blood--brain barrier and are
active in breast cancer. -Some say that the best available treatment for brain tumors today
are not conventional chemo agents (which experience problems getting
past the blood-brain barrier) but may be Stanislaw Burzynski's
"antineoplastons". Since these as I understand it are synthetic
molecules similar to ones produced by the body for the purpose of
repairing altered cells, they may suffer less from this problem.
In any case, Burzynski reportedly has the best statistics for patient
outcomes with brain tumors. Also, Burzynski reports in at least one
case that he has observed perfect reconstruction of normal, functional
brain tissue at the site of the former tumor.
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