Re: OLIGODENDROGLIOMA

Posted By CCF Neuro[P] MD, RPS on March 12, 1999 at 15:50:57:

In Reply to: OLIGODENDROGLIOMA posted by KIMBERLY PATIS on March 12, 1999 at 13:12:31:






MY 35 YEAR OLD SISTER HAD SURGERY FOR HER OLIGODENDROGLIOMA BRAIN TUMOR
TWO YEARS AGO THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO REMOVE ALL OF THE TUMOR.
SHE HAD BEEN GETTING MRI'S EVERY THREE MONTHS WITH NO GROWTH UNTILL
HER LAST MRI TWO YEARS TO THE DATE OF HER SURGERY. HER DOCTORS ARE TALKING ABOUT MORE SURGERY OR CHEMO OR BOTH. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW TWO THINGS:
HOW SUCESSFUL IS CHEMO ON THESE TYPES OF TUMORS AND ALSO IF THEY ARE SUCCESSFUL ON REMOVING THE TUMOR COMPLETELY WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF IT GROWING BACK ARE THERE ANY CASES WHERE CHEMO HAS EVER REMOVED THIS TYPES OF TUMOR COMPLETLY.
ALSO WHO IS THE BEST KNOW DOCTORS FOR THIS TYPE OF TUMOR?
PLEASE HELP!




Dear Kimberly:
Sorry to hear about your sister.  Oligodendrogliomas are difficult to control.  A fairly large percentage are responsive to chemotherapy.  However, long term they are difficult to completely control either by surgery or chemotherapy.  Yes surgery has been successful as has chemotherapy at long term survival.  But the percentage of patients that fall into this class is small.  There are many physicians in the nation who are good, most follow the current study trials for specific tumors and thus treatment is fairly standard.  We, at the Cleveland Clinic have seem many patients, as have Sloan Kettering, NIH, Fred Hutchinson in Seattle, Mayo Clinic, etc.  I hope that your sister is one of the patients that completely respond to treatment.
Sincerely,
CCF Neuro[P] MD