Need help understanding a brain MRI

Hi Steve, I can help with some of this such as the edema which is refering to the swelling around the tumour. Usually they treat the swelling with steroids.  The size 3 to 5mm which I also had 15months ago were called small by my radiologist. The smaller the better and easier to treat with cyberknife or  gamma knife radiation. I actually had a conversation with my Oncologist yesterday about whole brain vs Cyberknife treatments for brain mets. There are those doing well with both types of treatments. Sorry I can't help with the last two points, I am sure some one will  be able to help you there. I had 3 mets in 3 different regions of the brain and the cyberknife treatment was a success in Oct of 2013 . I have had no side effects from the treatment. I wish you the best with your treatments. Ed 

Hi Steve, I can help with some of this such as the edema which is refering to the swelling around the tumour. Usually they treat the swelling with steroids.  The size 3 to 5mm which I also had 15months ago were called small by my radiologist. The smaller the better and easier to treat with cyberknife or  gamma knife radiation. I actually had a conversation with my Oncologist yesterday about whole brain vs Cyberknife treatments for brain mets. There are those doing well with both types of treatments. Sorry I can't help with the last two points, I am sure some one will  be able to help you there. I had 3 mets in 3 different regions of the brain and the cyberknife treatment was a success in Oct of 2013 . I have had no side effects from the treatment. I wish you the best with your treatments. Ed 

Hi Steve, I can help with some of this such as the edema which is refering to the swelling around the tumour. Usually they treat the swelling with steroids.  The size 3 to 5mm which I also had 15months ago were called small by my radiologist. The smaller the better and easier to treat with cyberknife or  gamma knife radiation. I actually had a conversation with my Oncologist yesterday about whole brain vs Cyberknife treatments for brain mets. There are those doing well with both types of treatments. Sorry I can't help with the last two points, I am sure some one will  be able to help you there. I had 3 mets in 3 different regions of the brain and the cyberknife treatment was a success in Oct of 2013 . I have had no side effects from the treatment. I wish you the best with your treatments. Ed 

Hi Steve, 

Sorry to hear the news, but wanted to give you some information about gamma knife radiation and Yervoy. My Mom was diagnosed at stage IV with brain mets.  She had 8 of 9 brain mets treated on the 9th of December of last year and started Yervoy 4 days later.  

We went with Yervoy even though she was BRAF positive because Yervoy stimulates T-Cells in the brain and can be effective against brain mets.  There seems to be a greater response when patients have both Yervoy and gamma knife at the same time. Here is one article on this: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3892394/

My Mom has had terrific results even after having 17 new brain mets in April of this year. – We got a second opinion when our first neruoncologist said she had a new tumor, but said we should "wait and see" before having it gamma knifed…  We got a second opinion.

Our second opinion led to having 17 mets treated 7 days later. Scary!  We also learned that we should have been seeing both the radiologist and neuroncologist during each visit and they needed to talk to each other…  The first set didn't speak to each other.  But our current team is perfect! We couldn't ask for a better team or results. 

We were lucky that we knew within weeks that she was responding to Yervoy because my Mom had many subcutaneous tumors.  They are gone and the others, which are locate in her lungs, kidney, liver and adrenal glands, continue to shrink. She's been told that her response and results mirror patients who have durable long term results and the doctors expect her to be around a long time…  

We''ve also been told that Keytruda should be just as effective as Yervoy was, in case there is a reoccurrence.

Hope this helps.

Hi Steve, 

Sorry to hear the news, but wanted to give you some information about gamma knife radiation and Yervoy. My Mom was diagnosed at stage IV with brain mets.  She had 8 of 9 brain mets treated on the 9th of December of last year and started Yervoy 4 days later.  

We went with Yervoy even though she was BRAF positive because Yervoy stimulates T-Cells in the brain and can be effective against brain mets.  There seems to be a greater response when patients have both Yervoy and gamma knife at the same time. Here is one article on this: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3892394/

My Mom has had terrific results even after having 17 new brain mets in April of this year. – We got a second opinion when our first neruoncologist said she had a new tumor, but said we should "wait and see" before having it gamma knifed…  We got a second opinion.

Our second opinion led to having 17 mets treated 7 days later. Scary!  We also learned that we should have been seeing both the radiologist and neuroncologist during each visit and they needed to talk to each other…  The first set didn't speak to each other.  But our current team is perfect! We couldn't ask for a better team or results. 

We were lucky that we knew within weeks that she was responding to Yervoy because my Mom had many subcutaneous tumors.  They are gone and the others, which are locate in her lungs, kidney, liver and adrenal glands, continue to shrink. She's been told that her response and results mirror patients who have durable long term results and the doctors expect her to be around a long time…  

We''ve also been told that Keytruda should be just as effective as Yervoy was, in case there is a reoccurrence.

Hope this helps.

Hi Steve, 

Sorry to hear the news, but wanted to give you some information about gamma knife radiation and Yervoy. My Mom was diagnosed at stage IV with brain mets.  She had 8 of 9 brain mets treated on the 9th of December of last year and started Yervoy 4 days later.  

We went with Yervoy even though she was BRAF positive because Yervoy stimulates T-Cells in the brain and can be effective against brain mets.  There seems to be a greater response when patients have both Yervoy and gamma knife at the same time. Here is one article on this: 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3892394/

My Mom has had terrific results even after having 17 new brain mets in April of this year. – We got a second opinion when our first neruoncologist said she had a new tumor, but said we should "wait and see" before having it gamma knifed…  We got a second opinion.

Our second opinion led to having 17 mets treated 7 days later. Scary!  We also learned that we should have been seeing both the radiologist and neuroncologist during each visit and they needed to talk to each other…  The first set didn't speak to each other.  But our current team is perfect! We couldn't ask for a better team or results. 

We were lucky that we knew within weeks that she was responding to Yervoy because my Mom had many subcutaneous tumors.  They are gone and the others, which are locate in her lungs, kidney, liver and adrenal glands, continue to shrink. She's been told that her response and results mirror patients who have durable long term results and the doctors expect her to be around a long time…  

We''ve also been told that Keytruda should be just as effective as Yervoy was, in case there is a reoccurrence.

Hope this helps.