A hs classmate missed the picnic last month. He said doctors had discovered a couple of “masses on his brain.”

We now have the word that it is likely glioblastoma.

Isn’t this what Sen. McCain supposedly has?

What does the future hold? Cureable?

My understanding is that the outlook for glioblastoma is extremely bleak.

It is 100% fatal and by the time it's discovered, typically like pancreatic cancer, the outcome is certain.

Ted Kennedy had the same thing as your classmate and McCain. I think the survival rate for 2 years from typical diagnosis is near zero. It's a nasty one.

All of the above are correct. Treatment is palliative only.

My father had a Grade 4 Glio. Took him from perfect health to the grave in 10 months. (and that was after surgery, chemo and radiation). It was a very ugly 10-months.

There is no documented cure and no documented cases of survival outside of the trials being held at Duke Medical where a surgeon/professor is inserting deconstructed polio viruses directly into the tumor/mass and allowing the person's natural immune defenses to destroy the tumor in pursuit of the virus. Results thus far look promising.

To be honest - I should not have let my dad go through chemo or radiation given the already short prognosis for this type of cancer.

My father died from it in 2009. Terrible disease with a bleak outcome. There has been some progress in treatment that shows some promise.

My father also went through radiation and chemo. I think it made the end of his life worse.

Best wishes for your friend and family.

It is an unusually quick and final diagnosis. but, the University of Florida has had some luck with different protocols, and with a specific genotype. Take a look at the link, and some of the more recent articles:

https://braintumors.ufhealth.o...ries-cristina-matos/

Our brother was diagnosed in late Sept 2017. Doctors told him it is terminal and patients generally have about 24-30 months. Brother is involved in an experimental treatment regimen that (they claim) has shown some promise. No illusions about the prognosis, however.

We trudge on.

Duke University has been researching a protocol injecting modified polio virus into the tumors which was having some success as of a year or so ago, I’m not sure if the trial is still going on, but was only open to those who had failed standard therapy.

Not a good diagnosis to give or receive.

RMD

My sister passed away recently from this. 20 months after diagnosis.

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
There is no documented cases of survival outside of the trials being held at Duke Medical

Not quite accurate. Northwest Biotherapeutics, which has a pivotal study underway for its dendritic cell vaccine, has reported a few patients have survived 7 years+ and are in remission thus far (well beyond the norm survival point). Unfortunately, like many terminal illness indications, many that were enrolled in the Ph III study have passed away but median survival appears much improved. I used “appears” b/c the trial’s study design and mgmt could have been improved upon and it’s difficult to extrapolate whether other causative factors are responsible for that clinical endpoint’s value (which is still an interim one as the study continues to progress). The tech may not be a God-send but an interesting approach to address oncogenic drift. Its greatest chance of success may lie in combining it with a check point inhibitor.

Best wishes to your friend and I hope whatever care they seek is in some way beneficial.

Sorry to hear about your pal JAllen.

Friend of mine died either 5 or 7 years after diagnosis w/GBM. There were a few years there where the docs told him after followup MRIs that "you can tell you brain surgery but not why". Sadly, it became obvious again why.
Number of years are better if in your 30's rather than your 60s but still screwed just the same.
The last year was terrible.

The Duke experiment will be a Godsend if they can work it out.

JALLEN- Glioblastoma Multiformae is one nasty form of cancer. I will pray for your classmate.
Having said that, I am a survivor of Stage 4 Glioblastoma. I was destined to die, and the specialists at the Univ of Michigan Medical Ctr., had done the paperwork transferring me to the local Hospice, where I was supposed to die in a month's time or so. But, 2 of the junior Doctors in the Oncology Dept and the Neurosurgery Dept decided to try out a then new( it was in 2000), cancer drug. The chemotherapy was really rough, but after 18 infusions, I began to recover. My cancer is in remission, and I have developed a second, benign brain tumor, but, it looks like I am free of the brain cancer.

None the less, JALLEN, your friend is in my prayers.

Just saw a story about a new treatment study for this disease.

https://www.northwell.edu/abou...ent-stays-ahead-tech

This isn't the story I saw on local TV (couldn't find it), but it is the same patient.

Figured it might open an avenue of research for anyone here going through it. Anything that can give someone more life is worth investigating.

(Writing this on the anniversary of the death of my own mother - she did not, however, go of cancer)

Thanks. I sent it to my buddy. He’s retired Army.

I have no idea what kind of care he might be getting.

Here's an article on a different new treatment for glioblastoma: poliovirus.

Link: Scientific American: Poliovirus for glioblastoma

The lab work came back Stage 4 glioblastoma.

Thanks, doc. I’ll send the new article.

I just got off the phone with our social director who told me she had gotten the call from the new widow that my classmate has died.

Sure is fast. I believe he first noticed symptoms in February.

Sorry to hear of your classmate's death, JALLEN.