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FancyJams t1_iyb99ag wrote

Reply to comment by MisterVelveteen in Researchers have developed a new method of killing brain cancer cells while preserving the delicate tissue around it: placing long needles through the skull and sending pulses of electrical current into a glioblastoma tumour, this makes chemotherapy treatment of brain cancer suddenly possible by giuliomagnifico

This is not accurate, radiation is modeled and planned in 3D and only affects the targeted tissue. It is much more focused than it was even a decade ago. However it still causes irritation and swelling.

My mom, who was a radiation therapist her whole career, is currently in radiation and chemo for a glioblastoma. She's been discussing the treatment protocol with her former colleagues and it's already completely different from when she retired not long ago.

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grst0801 t1_iybdqhj wrote

This is wrong. There are multiple ways to utilize radiation, but all involve spillover into outside areas. Whether it's photon or proton therapy you're going to have side effects, if it's in the brain, you're going to have serious side effects.

Source: I am dying and currently undergoing brain/spine proton radiation therapy at the Mayo clinic.

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FancyJams t1_iybh2g9 wrote

We were told that the side effects were due to the targeted tissue being irritated, but I'm certainly not an expert and perhaps I'm wrong about it also affecting adjacent tissue.

I'm so sorry for what you're going through, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

My mom's cognitive symptoms from the radiation are terrible and we don't know if or when they will improve.

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grst0801 t1_iybr4ki wrote

Its all good, it may also depend on the type of radiation. They can do a pretty good job with proton based focal radiation, but there is still spillover. It has gotten to a point in which if they can spare the hippocampus, they can irradiate the brain repeatedly. There are some side effects where the beam passes through (hair loss, irritation, cell death, etc.) regardless of the type of treatment they're doing. Essentially they are using a proton/photon as a bowling ball, causing chaos as it passes through molecules, spinning off electrons which create free radicals that will (hopefully) blow out the DNA of the cells they run into.

There are some promising trials out there focused on getting treatment through the blood-brain barrier. In the future, maybe in just a few years, you'll start to see some spine catheter trials to directly get chemo drugs and/or antibody conjugate into the CSF. If you can just hang on, there is reason to hope.

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MisterVelveteen t1_iybzehi wrote

I guess you can tell that to my personal acquaintance with permanent vocal chord damage from beam therapy for glioblastoma, they'll be stoked to hear I'm wrong.

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