Sen Kennedy with Brain Tumor

[jundp 191]

My heart goes out to him and his family. Even though his politics are not something I agree with I still have respect for him. A malignant brain tumor is a nasty way to go. My mother died of one at the age of 37. I wish him peace in his final days.

Well said.

The entire Kennedy family inspires some mixed emotions in me (a die-hard Catholic Dem!) but brain tumors are terrible. The pain and sadness he and his family will encounter are never 'deserved' IMO.

Even though you're a crazy right-wing conservative I think you and Luz are awesome and I have great respect for you, Gary. Thank you for keeping this thread in perspective.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I hope the Senator has a full recovery. Good luck Ted.

[william_wallace 8]

I hope the Senator has a full recovery. Good luck Ted.

Can't see him getting a full recovery...........But, you never know.

[Cassie 8]

I hope the Senator has a full recovery. Good luck Ted.

Can't see him getting a full recovery...........But, you never know.

My mom had probably one of the worst kinds of leukemia a person her age could have, and she is still with us three years after diagnosis. There is amazing treatments out there!

With that being said, it's hard to predict how Sen. Kennedy will respond to treatment, but my best wishes are with him and his family, and anyone who is currently battling cancer.

[Fandango 1,439]

I had to stop reading this halfway through cos I have to respond.....I am no lover of Kennedy, but bringing up MJ was a cheap shot at a time when he and his family are facing devastating news. I wish him the best and will pray for him...

Can't politics take a back seat just one time?????????????

[Fandango 1,439]

Whoops, shoulda read thru....

*what Gary said!*

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I hope he'd have longer to be around than not. I know someone who got brain cancer and died within a few months. Maybe theirs was further along though.

Lots of factors there:

• degree of malignancy (how fast tumour grows, type, ...)
• primary or secondary tumour (say from metastasis of melanoma)
• stage of detecion

Any/all of these could have worked in your acquaintance's disfavour.

[Scott & Lai 12]

I've wanted Kennedy out of office as much as anyone with conservative leanings, but man, not like this! I despise cancer I heard on the radio that they weren't going to operate, and that that was a bad sign

[Sheriff Uling 3]

A request to my conservative friends.

Please refrain from the political digs in this thread. Brain tumors are a very bad way to go. No one disagrees with the political positions of Ted Kennedy more than I do but out of respect for what he is going through and the undoubted pain he will have in the future please just wish him well or say nothing.

I'm with you Gary. Oh, by the by, do you consider me a conservative friend? Hmmmm...

A friend at least.

Come on Gary... I'm a semi-conservative...

[yogib37 3]

A request to my conservative friends.

Please refrain from the political digs in this thread. Brain tumors are a very bad way to go. No one disagrees with the political positions of Ted Kennedy more than I do but out of respect for what he is going through and the undoubted pain he will have in the future please just wish him well or say nothing.

Gary,

You are nothing short then one classy guy. This is a good post and I respect you much more. I always respect your opinions and may not always agree with you.

I think we all need to put the politics on the back burner and pray and hope that he will not suffer too much.

I had a aunt that suffer from a brain tummor and I only remember she could not speak well or walk she was in wheel chair. I remember sitting in hospital waiting room while my parents visit her.

I consider you a good friend. it is good to have you as a friend and a honor.

Yogi

Edited May 21, 2008 by yogib37

[yogib37 3]

A grim diagnosis: Kennedy's brain cancer is worst kind

WASHINGTON - A malignant glioma — the diagnosis doctors gave Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — is the worst kind of brain cancer. Malignant gliomas strike almost 9,000 Americans a year. Survival statistics are grim — few live three years and for the worst subtype, half die within a year.

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Who lasts longer — and some do — depends on exactly what form of glioma someone has, whether surgeons can cut most of it out, age and some other medical details.

Kennedy's doctors didn't mention surgery, suggesting that may not be a possibility for him.

"As a general rule, at 76, without the ability to do a surgical resection, as kind of a ballpark figure you're probably looking at a survival of less than a year," said Dr. Keith Black, chairman of neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

On the plus side, scientists are studying new approaches — adding a drug called Avastin to standard treatment, or even brewing up customized vaccines to help the body fight back. While they're still experimental, many glioma experts advise newly diagnosed patients to seek out specialized cancer centers and ask if they're a good candidate for a research study up front.

"Considering how poorly they do despite standard treatment, it is always best to seek a clinical trial," said Dr. Deepa Subramaniam, director of the brain tumor center at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "They are not likely to do worse."

Kennedy was hospitalized Saturday after a seizure. Tuesday, doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital announced the reason, a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe, a brain region that governs sensation but also plays some role in movement and language. Doctors were awaiting further tests before choosing treatment, but they cited radiation and chemotherapy as the usual approach.

Kennedy's age and the mention of upfront chemotherapy mean the glioma is almost certainly one of the two worst forms: a glioblastoma — the fastest-killing brain tumor, known for claiming entertainer Ethel Merman and Republican political strategist Lee Atwater — or the only somewhat less aggressive anaplastic astrocytoma, Subramaniam said.

Malignant glioma "usually is a synonym for a glioblastoma," agreed Dr. Robert Laureno, neurology chairman at Washington Hospital Center in the nation's capital.

The American Cancer Society puts the five-year survival rate for patients over age 45 at 16 percent for those with anaplastic astrocytomas, and 2 percent or less for those with glioblastomas.

Patients fare best when surgeons can cut out all the visible tumor, Black said. That isn't a cure — doctors know they're leaving cancerous cells they just can't see.

But about 40 percent of the time, surgery isn't an option. The cancer, which digs tentacle-like roots into normal brain tissue, may be too deep or located so closely to critical brain regions.

Moreover, "it doesn't help to take 50 percent or 60 percent of the tumor out," Black said.

Standard treatment is about six weeks of fairly high-dose radiation along with a chemotherapy pill named Temodar, and then additional Temodar for at least six months or until the tumor stops responding.

The older the patient, the worse the prognosis. But some people fare much better — especially those with a subtype where another glioma form, called oligodendroglioma, is mixed with the primary tumor, Black said. They generally survive three times as long as people with pure glioblastomas.

The tumor's size — which also wasn't revealed — is key, too, added Dr. Lynne Taylor of Seattle's Virginia Mason Cancer Center and the American Academy of Neurology. An 8-centimeter tumor is pretty big for chemo and radiation to blunt, while a 1cm tumor is easier.

Also, the fairly recent addition of Temodar has brought a slight increase in the number of patients who beat average survival odds, she added.

"You're fighting an uphill battle," is what Taylor tells her patients — and then immediately urges them to live as if they'll be one of the lucky ones.

Whatever the statistics, the news is grim. And what symptoms will appear first depends on exactly where in the parietal lobe the tumor sits and "how that individual's brain is wired," Laureno said.

Among the possibilities: Loss of sensation on the right side of the body, problems with movement in the right arm and leg, eventual problems speaking or even vision problems in the right eye.

There are some experimental therapies that researchers are watching closely, including:

_Adding the colon cancer drug Avastin to standard treatment. Avastin chokes off tumors' blood supply, and initial studies suggest it can help shrink gliomas. Whether that helps survival isn't yet known, but Black says even though this use is experimental, more and more specialists are prescribing it right after diagnosis.

_Trying experimental cancer vaccines. Brain tumors often can't be seen by the immune system. So scientists take cells from the surgically removed glioma, put them on the immune cells and give them back to the patient. Small studies at Cedars-Sinai suggest the approach improved two-year survival from 8 percent of glioblastoma patients to 42 percent, Black said. But it's only an option for surgery candidates.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

I've wanted Kennedy out of office as much as anyone with conservative leanings, but man, not like this! I despise cancer I heard on the radio that they weren't going to operate, and that that was a bad sign

(speculative) May not be entirely, if they're using European (especially French) treatment options (French tend to prefer radiation over the surgery/chemo or chemo-only of Yanks)

[HAL 9000 96]

Yes... the location in the parietal lobe is not operable... too many movement initiation/sense reception zones. It looks like it will be a very difficult road for the Senator and all of our prayers should go to him and his family.

My grandmother had a spinal glioma that spread to her vertebrae and then outwards from there... all I can think of now is how wonderful her cooking was to reconcile the sad days she put up with before joining the rest of our family members that had passed before her.

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Yes... the location in the parietal lobe is not operable... too many movement initiation/sense reception zones. It looks like it will be a very difficult road for the Senator and all of our prayers should go to him and his family.

Is it amenable to the other two (burn or poison) options?

Agree that he needs prayer.

My grandmother had a spinal glioma that spread to her vertebrae and then outwards from there... all I can think of now is how wonderful her cooking was to reconcile the sad days she put up with before joining the rest of our family members that had passed before her.

[GaryC 7]

I just saw him leave the hospital on TV. It's good to see him leave on foot. The radiation and chemo treatments will be really hard for him. It's sad to think that this will probably be his best day from here on. I only hope the treatments have less devastating side effects than they did when my mother went through them. It was hard to say whether the side effects were worth the extra time that the treatments bought. He has a very close family though, that helps more than the medical treatments do. Best of luck Teddy.