Posted , 3 users are following.
hello,
my brother was diagnosed with astrocytoma 2 months ago... last week he had 90 % of the tumor removed and is going to start radiation and chemo next week. he is 30 years old.
i dont really understand the 5 year rate thing... can he be fully healed of this forever? or will it eventually kill him 😦
thanks for your help.
0 likes, 2 replies
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loxie timlit2r
Posted
Firstly, very sorry to hear of your brother's health issues. If you havent been able to get understandable explanations from the doctors/surgeons, there's a very useful website run by the Brain Tumour Charity - the website address might get blocked by a moderator if I type it in full but starts with www dot, then thebraintumourcharity then ends with dot org. If you type in astrocytoma it will give you some info on the types of this brain tumour, expected treatment and expected survival rates. The five year rate is the record of the percentage of people who have survived treatment for a period of at least five years. No cancer can be guaranteed never to come back but the longer the survival time the better as a general rule of thumb.
barney34567 timlit2r
Posted
I too am sorry for your circumstance.
I second Loxie's recommendation to research the tumor. Follow her advice and keep reading up on the tumor from well known university (ie teaching) hospitals.
When you research be sure of the grade f the tumor. Normally the grade is between 1 and 4. That way you'll be reading up on EXACTLY the right tumor.
As Loxie says, the 5 year survival rate means that a certain percentage of patients who underwent treatment are alive 5 years after treatment. But those figures are averages of patients who may be 8 or 80 years old. See if you can find
a) Information on the exact tumor eg your brother has say a Grade 1 Pylocystic Astrocytoma; AND
b) The 5-year rate for folk around his age. This may not be easy to find, but it is useful if you can find it.