MRI question

[survivor42]

i was diagnosed with an astrocytoma, grade 2, in my right parietal lobe and thalamus (both sides) back in april 2007.  i have since gone through 54 radiation treatments as well as 3 months of temodar treatment 5 on/23 off.  my last two mri's have shown a small bright spot about 1.5 cm, not where the tumor is, but in the right parietal lobe, which was not present earlier.  the drs are watching it by doing mri's every two months but cannot identify what it is since it is so small.  The first tumor is about the size of a baseball in total and two biopsies were done - one at the time of diagnosis and one other when a lesion appeared on the first mri.  the lesion biopsy was inconclusive.  the original tumor appears to be getting smaller although it is not apparent to me when I look at the mri. My questions are these:  could the small bright spot be scar tissue from the radiation and two, when i am looking at the mri's with my neurologist, what should i be asking him so that i can better understand what is going on?  i am so confused.  thank you for any help you can offer.

[KDSilverbrush]

My husband was diagnosed with an Oligodendroglia brain tumor, it was removed with surgery, and now they want to give him 6 weeks of chemo and radiation EVERY DAY, and then maintenance chemo for 5 to 6 months. I just don't trust this method of treatment as it kills not only the cancer cells, but any good cells as well. 6 weeks of constant bombardment of these "treatments" just seem to be to much to me. So I have been doing research on it myself, and this is an alternative that sounds amazing to me.

http://cbd-care.com/0012200313/CBD-NaturesSupplement.pdf

If it were up to my husband he wouldn't be taking any kind of treatments.

[nicolekalil]

Hi - My name is Nicole

My twin brother was diagnosed with inoperable astrocytoma and the most difficult times are seeing him have seizures - I cannot imagine what you have gone through having had up to 50 a day.He has had upto 3 and that was enough for me.He gives me strength as he has tremendous faith and is very positive.He has short term memory loss.He is at stage 4 but is fully functional except for the times when the seizures occur.
He has had aggressive radiation and chemo.
I hope that you recover 100%
Take Care
Nicole

[survivor42]

hi,
all i really know about my tumor is that it is a grade 2 astrocytoma, inolving the right parietal lobe and both sides of the thlamus.  It is woven thru my brain and is about the size of a baseball in total.  I have only had two biopsies and no resection.  The chemo/radiation seems to be working right now, but the doctor stated that they can probably only keep it under control for 4-5 years, a few more if I'm really lucky.  I havent had a resection due to the damage it could cause to the quality of my life.  This has not been offered by the doctors either - I was just told that the location of the tumor made it inoperable.  I'm sorry about your mom.  How long did she live after the 2-3 year prognosis?  If you don't mind sharing with me, what was it like for her near the end of her life?  That is what I'm most afraid of.  Did the resection help her to live longer than initially thought?  Again, I'm so sorry.  I will keep you updated on my situation as often as I can.
God bless.

[Michellemc]

Just curious as to what type of Astrocytoma you have and did you have any surgeries other than the biopsy. Have they tried to resect the tumor? My mother has a grade 3 anaplastic Astrocytoma. The surgeons could only resect part of the tumor. The survival rate of a person with this kind of tumor is very low, she was only given 2-3 years to live. She had her surgery in 1987. Most of the years were good. I was only curious because I've been trying to find someone with this type. Good luck to you and I hope you get better.

[survivor42]

hi again,

You have been a tremendous help to me and I appreciate you taking the time to answer my many questions.  I appreciate your good wishes and will post on occasion to keep you and others updated as well as to ask questions on occasion.  Thank you very, very much!!

Best regards.

[Godofredo MD]

Hi.

Intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is a form of radiation therapy that allows delivery of radiation through a more accurate and dose-controlled method than conventional radiation treatments. However, IMRT is still radiotherapy, and does result in complications, such as scar tissue, although at a much lesser incidence than conventional methods. Thus, it could be possible that the lesion could be scar tissue, although nothing can be certain at this point.

The schedule for radiation therapy is a little flexible to allow for some treatment interruption due to unforseen events, and would have minimal impact on the effectiveness of the procedure.

If the new lesion was a new tumor, I would assume that it should have been determined with the biopsy. For now, it should probably just be monitored and a repeat biopsy done later.

Any insult to the brain, whether it is through medication, radiation, or the tumor itself, could potentially lead to symptoms of inability to concentrate and mild memory loss. You should probably take this up with your doctor to see what he or she has to say.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help to you. I do hope your condition would get better real soon.

Good luck.

[survivor42]

one more question - I seem to have lost a lot of my ability to concentrate on one thing and to remember things.  Could the chemo be causing this or do you think it's more likely related to the tumor or radiation?  

Ty again

[survivor42]

Hi,Thank you for your reply.  The type of radiation i received for my tumor was IMRT - does this often cause scar tissue?  I received 54 treatments, which were put on hold when an infection was discovered at the biopsy site.  When the biopsy site was reopened, they tried to do a biopsy on the lesion but could not conclude anything from it.  The radiation was put on hold for two weeks.  Could this have any effect on the outcome of the effectiveness of the radiation? If the treatment works how it is supposed to, can i ever look forward to a life without seizures and regaining strength on my left side?  At one point I was having up to 50 seizures a day - I had quite a few during radiation treatments, would this have any effect even though the radiation technicians stopped the treatment until the seizure had passed.  If the new lesion is not associated with the original tumor, could it be another tumor?  Does this often happen?Thank you very much for your knowledge and help,survivor42

[Godofredo MD]

Hi.

What type of radiation treatment are your receiving for the astrocytoma?

It would be difficult to say whether the new lesion is indeed scar tissue from radiotherapy, as even the biopsy proved inconclusive. However, if the radiation treatment you are receiving is the more localized (accurate) type, the lesion might not be associated with it.

When you are with your doctor, things you should ask for include:

- Is the treatment working? If it is, how significant was the shrinkage of the tumor in terms of size at the start of treatment and at the present time?
- Could the lesion probably be a tumor also? Is it growing in size or has it stayed the same?
- Would you expect any complications from the treatment? Knowing possible complications of treatment is key to being ready for them if they do happen.

Hope this helps.