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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> Still, cancer experts said Kennedy faces a difficult struggle.
"In the more aggressive gliomas, the outlook is not good," said Dr. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society. "This is a serious situation with a difficult outlook."
Dr. Eugene Flamm, chair of the department of neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, said a patient with this type of brain tumor typically dies in about a year. "Some patients will die in less than a year, and others may live for two years," he said.
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"No matter where the glioblastoma is located, it's not curable. When I talk to patients, I don't talk about cure. I talk about trying to control the tumor," Flamm said.
Dr. Ania Pollack, a neurosurgeon at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, agreed. "Life expectancy for a man Senator Kennedy's age with such a tumor is about 12 to 14 months," she said.
While there hasn't been much improvement in survival, there are experimental treatments, Pollack noted. These include immuno treatments and targeted chemotherapy and local radiation therapy, she said.
In fact, a study presented Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago reported that an experimental cancer vaccine is showing promise against the same general type of brain tumor diagnosed in Sen. Kennedy. The vaccine, when given with chemotherapy, more than doubled progression-free survival in patients with glioblastoma multiforme tumors -- from 6.4 months to 16.6 months.
Discussing Kennedy's post-surgery care, Flamm said radiation and chemotherapy are the usual course of treatment. Patients also typically receive anti-seizure medication, he noted.
"Radiation usually takes about four to six weeks," Flamm said. "While every protocol is different, chemotherapy is usually repeated every eight weeks if you are getting a response."
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