Brain Tumor FAQs

Brain Tumor FAQs

Topic: Radiation

Displaying questions 1 to 15 of about 15

I had my first dose of radiation today and saw the blue light. Is it caused by radiation on the optic nerve or the vision center of the brian? Is it very common? No one told me about it beforehand.
My sister has been undergoing 30 weeks of IMRT radiation treatment for a GBM brain tumor. Her forehead started to turn red after the first few weeks. Now that she is just about finished with her treatment, the skin on her forehead has a blackish, charred color. She was fair skinned before the treatments. Is it normal for her skin to darken and look charred?
My grandpa just had his radiation therapy to shrink his tumor. Doctors are suggesting that he should start his chemotherapy, as his tumor is on a more advanced stage. He actually has lung cancer, but it has spread in to his brain. Doctors are saying that he should start on chemotherapy. He is 76 yrs old, and we are afraid that chemo might have worse effects on him. He is feeling really good after taking radiation. Our concern is will chemo help him or ruin his lifestyle.
I have recurrent meningioma, in the parietal lobe (grade 3), partly excised for the third time, am awaiting radiotherapy (post surgery), and very nervous about long term side effects. Will it be worth going through the therapy, and could it give me a few good years, or will it increase my chance of getting further cancers?
My father has glioblastoma and the oncologist is suggesting starting the standard round of 30 radiotherapy treatments (following the surgery). It was a 2.5 cm tumor that was mostly removed from the surface of the right frontal lobe. IMRT is not available in our Canadian province. Would radiotherapy using IMRT versus the traditional radiotherapy approach be beneficial for my father in terms of tumor management, and more so in terms of possible side effects? We are debating if we should try to ask for a referral to a center in a different province that does have IMRT available (we are in Canada, so our medical system is a bit different than the states).
My wife is approximately 12 years post-op/post-radiation for a Meningioma of the left falx. Over the last few years, her right-side leg impairment has increased, apparently due to radiation damage to the brain. Are there any treatments to combat this decline?
What is the significance of getting a full dose of radiation rather than 4000 or less for an adult brain stem glioma?
Since it is possible for a brain tumor to dissappear after radiation therapy treatment, I would like to know how soon can this result be seen. Could it take a little more than a year or sooner?
Is it true and possible that a tumor that shrinks or disappears after radiation treatment is radioresponsive? Is it possible for a brain tumor to disappear after radiation treatment?
My mom had stereotactic radiosurgery for a benign meningioma. She began to experience brain swelling three months later and was placed on Decadron. It is now nine months later and she is still suffering from SEVERE swelling. It has debilitated her and taken away her speech altogether. She can do NOTHING for herself anymore. It is a pitiful situation. We recently visited her neurosurgeon again and had a repeat MRI. It just showed extensive swelling. The brain is just reacting to the radiation. It has already caused her to have 2 severe seizures and she is now on Dilantin. The neurosurgeon said that she is on the maximum dose of Decadron that he is willing to give her (16 mg per day). The radiologist, as well as the neurosurgeon, say that in time the swelling should stop and recede, and all of her functions should return. This is becoming increasingly hard to believe. I have a couple of questions for you: Have you had experience with brain swelling due to stereotactic radiosurgery? If so, did it take a really long time to go away? Was the patient disabled from the swelling? Does all of the swelling really EVER go completely away? I really miss my mother. It has been over 6 months since I have been able to communicate with her. We were never warned of such a side effect. Any hope or good news that you can offer?
Do gamma knife and cyber knife use the same form of radiation? If yes, isn't gamma knife more precise? What would be the possible advantage of cyberknife.......no headframe and the possibility to use it for tumors larger than 3 cm? Anything else?
Does previous radiation therapy limit me in any way from receiving radiosurgery (gamma knife or LINAC) and, if it does, for how long?
My wife had 7,000 rads to her tumor region, BID over 35 days. The tumor is in the upper brain stem and is a pilocytic astrocytoma; it is about 3 cm cubed. What are the odds that she will develop necrosis in the tumor region? And if the odds are that she will, how does it present and how long will it continue to increase?
I have received 54 greys of radiation therapy over six-and-a-half weeks for my brain tumor. The machine used was called Cobalt. What is the difference of using Cobalt vs a machine called linear accelerator? Also, how long can the above mentioned radiation have an effect on the tumor? More than 4 months after the last radiation day?
How long after brain tumor surgery should radiation begin? (This is in reference to a GBM).

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