Zelboraf going on working but brian mets

She has to go off the zelboraf while doing radiation because she could get severe skin burns. At least that is what the doc told me when I was on the taf mek combo and they had to radiate my spine.

Im not sure why the zelboraf isn't taking care of the ones in her head like it is the others. It is supposed to work there too if I understood Celeste right. Was that her first MRI or were they comparing it to an older one? If this was her first and she is feeling ok you might want a second opinion. But even so I doubt they could read the MRI that wrong. Good luck.

Artie

She has to go off the zelboraf while doing radiation because she could get severe skin burns. At least that is what the doc told me when I was on the taf mek combo and they had to radiate my spine.

Im not sure why the zelboraf isn't taking care of the ones in her head like it is the others. It is supposed to work there too if I understood Celeste right. Was that her first MRI or were they comparing it to an older one? If this was her first and she is feeling ok you might want a second opinion. But even so I doubt they could read the MRI that wrong. Good luck.

Artie

She has to go off the zelboraf while doing radiation because she could get severe skin burns. At least that is what the doc told me when I was on the taf mek combo and they had to radiate my spine.

Im not sure why the zelboraf isn't taking care of the ones in her head like it is the others. It is supposed to work there too if I understood Celeste right. Was that her first MRI or were they comparing it to an older one? If this was her first and she is feeling ok you might want a second opinion. But even so I doubt they could read the MRI that wrong. Good luck.

Artie

Have you also discussed Gamma Knife Radiation (aka SRS) for the brain mets? There is a good study that say this treatment option for brain mets was superior to whole brain.

If you do choose to use Gamma Knife talk to your doctor about adding Yervoy (imunotheray) or something similar (another immunotherapy).  My Mom had this combo at Stage IV with brain mets.  She had Gamma Knife first followed by Yervoy 4 days later.  Results for her were amazing and there are studies that show this significantly increases the response rate of Yervoy with radiation. – She did have a recent reocurrance of a treated brain met treated in the first round of Gamma Knife treatment (8 of 9 treated), but she's had no cognitive issues with 25 brain mets and Yervoy worked on every tumor she had and she had a lot….

Also, one of the best things to do is to get a true expert in radiosurgery.  Get a first, second or third oppinion on treatment options and find out who the best is and have them preform the surgery. This is really important in the reatment plan. Unfortunatly our first treatment was performed by someone who LEFT a tumor untreated, which required a second Gamma Knife Radiation treatment for 17 tumors. – My Mom has done great though. – Far superior than most patients.

I  prefer having all doctors at the same center. We found when we had a melanoma specialist and the radidation oncologist in different systems her care was less than optimial because the doctors didn't talk to each other and we were never told to see the radiation oncologist after the followup. As soon as we moved everything under one roof is far far superior. – Food for thought.

Good Luck!

Study finds Gamma Knife radiosurgery alone yields equal survival outcomes for patients with two to 10 tumors

"The essential criticism of employing Gamma Knife radiosurgery without WBRT for patients with several lesions is that microscopic tumors might go untreated, necessitating salvage stereotactic radiosurgery or an alternative therapy,” he adds. “Thus, WBRT is widely advocated. However, a recent study showed that WBRT is only able to prevent the emergence of new tumors for no more than six months post-treatment. Many patients with brain mets can survive for more than a year, thereby outliving the effects of WBRT."

http://www.elekta.com/press/9381f384-ff4a-4561-80c7-5175f5e0f381/study-finds-gamma-knife-radiosurgery-alone-yields-equal-survival-outcomes-for-patients-with-two-to-10-tumors.html

Ipilimumab and radiation therapy for melanoma brain metastases

In the present study, the survival of the SRS and ipilimumab group was significantly longer than that for SRS alone (median of 19.9 months vs. 4.0 months; P = 0.009), with a HR of 0.31 that was statistically significant (P = 0.009). Neither SRS nor ipilimumab treatment individually appears to account for the prolonged survival seen in this analysis. 

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

Have you also discussed Gamma Knife Radiation (aka SRS) for the brain mets? There is a good study that say this treatment option for brain mets was superior to whole brain.

If you do choose to use Gamma Knife talk to your doctor about adding Yervoy (imunotheray) or something similar (another immunotherapy).  My Mom had this combo at Stage IV with brain mets.  She had Gamma Knife first followed by Yervoy 4 days later.  Results for her were amazing and there are studies that show this significantly increases the response rate of Yervoy with radiation. – She did have a recent reocurrance of a treated brain met treated in the first round of Gamma Knife treatment (8 of 9 treated), but she's had no cognitive issues with 25 brain mets and Yervoy worked on every tumor she had and she had a lot….

Also, one of the best things to do is to get a true expert in radiosurgery.  Get a first, second or third oppinion on treatment options and find out who the best is and have them preform the surgery. This is really important in the reatment plan. Unfortunatly our first treatment was performed by someone who LEFT a tumor untreated, which required a second Gamma Knife Radiation treatment for 17 tumors. – My Mom has done great though. – Far superior than most patients.

I  prefer having all doctors at the same center. We found when we had a melanoma specialist and the radidation oncologist in different systems her care was less than optimial because the doctors didn't talk to each other and we were never told to see the radiation oncologist after the followup. As soon as we moved everything under one roof is far far superior. – Food for thought.

Good Luck!

Study finds Gamma Knife radiosurgery alone yields equal survival outcomes for patients with two to 10 tumors

"The essential criticism of employing Gamma Knife radiosurgery without WBRT for patients with several lesions is that microscopic tumors might go untreated, necessitating salvage stereotactic radiosurgery or an alternative therapy,” he adds. “Thus, WBRT is widely advocated. However, a recent study showed that WBRT is only able to prevent the emergence of new tumors for no more than six months post-treatment. Many patients with brain mets can survive for more than a year, thereby outliving the effects of WBRT."

http://www.elekta.com/press/9381f384-ff4a-4561-80c7-5175f5e0f381/study-finds-gamma-knife-radiosurgery-alone-yields-equal-survival-outcomes-for-patients-with-two-to-10-tumors.html

Ipilimumab and radiation therapy for melanoma brain metastases

In the present study, the survival of the SRS and ipilimumab group was significantly longer than that for SRS alone (median of 19.9 months vs. 4.0 months; P = 0.009), with a HR of 0.31 that was statistically significant (P = 0.009). Neither SRS nor ipilimumab treatment individually appears to account for the prolonged survival seen in this analysis. 

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

Have you also discussed Gamma Knife Radiation (aka SRS) for the brain mets? There is a good study that say this treatment option for brain mets was superior to whole brain.

If you do choose to use Gamma Knife talk to your doctor about adding Yervoy (imunotheray) or something similar (another immunotherapy).  My Mom had this combo at Stage IV with brain mets.  She had Gamma Knife first followed by Yervoy 4 days later.  Results for her were amazing and there are studies that show this significantly increases the response rate of Yervoy with radiation. – She did have a recent reocurrance of a treated brain met treated in the first round of Gamma Knife treatment (8 of 9 treated), but she's had no cognitive issues with 25 brain mets and Yervoy worked on every tumor she had and she had a lot….

Also, one of the best things to do is to get a true expert in radiosurgery.  Get a first, second or third oppinion on treatment options and find out who the best is and have them preform the surgery. This is really important in the reatment plan. Unfortunatly our first treatment was performed by someone who LEFT a tumor untreated, which required a second Gamma Knife Radiation treatment for 17 tumors. – My Mom has done great though. – Far superior than most patients.

I  prefer having all doctors at the same center. We found when we had a melanoma specialist and the radidation oncologist in different systems her care was less than optimial because the doctors didn't talk to each other and we were never told to see the radiation oncologist after the followup. As soon as we moved everything under one roof is far far superior. – Food for thought.

Good Luck!

Study finds Gamma Knife radiosurgery alone yields equal survival outcomes for patients with two to 10 tumors

"The essential criticism of employing Gamma Knife radiosurgery without WBRT for patients with several lesions is that microscopic tumors might go untreated, necessitating salvage stereotactic radiosurgery or an alternative therapy,” he adds. “Thus, WBRT is widely advocated. However, a recent study showed that WBRT is only able to prevent the emergence of new tumors for no more than six months post-treatment. Many patients with brain mets can survive for more than a year, thereby outliving the effects of WBRT."

http://www.elekta.com/press/9381f384-ff4a-4561-80c7-5175f5e0f381/study-finds-gamma-knife-radiosurgery-alone-yields-equal-survival-outcomes-for-patients-with-two-to-10-tumors.html

Ipilimumab and radiation therapy for melanoma brain metastases

In the present study, the survival of the SRS and ipilimumab group was significantly longer than that for SRS alone (median of 19.9 months vs. 4.0 months; P = 0.009), with a HR of 0.31 that was statistically significant (P = 0.009). Neither SRS nor ipilimumab treatment individually appears to account for the prolonged survival seen in this analysis. 

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

Antonio,

So sorry for all that you and your wife are going through.  Here is a synopsis of an article that reviewed 73 studies regarding melanoma brain mets and the outcomes of the treatments reported.  There is data re: SRS vs WBRT.  There are also links to other reports on melanoma brain met treatments.

http://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-really-good-review-of-treatment-data.html

Hope that helps.  I wish you and your wife well.  Celeste

Antonio,

So sorry for all that you and your wife are going through.  Here is a synopsis of an article that reviewed 73 studies regarding melanoma brain mets and the outcomes of the treatments reported.  There is data re: SRS vs WBRT.  There are also links to other reports on melanoma brain met treatments.

http://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-really-good-review-of-treatment-data.html

Hope that helps.  I wish you and your wife well.  Celeste

Antonio,

So sorry for all that you and your wife are going through.  Here is a synopsis of an article that reviewed 73 studies regarding melanoma brain mets and the outcomes of the treatments reported.  There is data re: SRS vs WBRT.  There are also links to other reports on melanoma brain met treatments.

http://chaoticallypreciselifeloveandmelanoma.blogspot.com/2015/07/a-really-good-review-of-treatment-data.html

Hope that helps.  I wish you and your wife well.  Celeste