Just Found His Cancer Mets To The Brain

Hello, everyone, Two weeks ago we sound out that my husband's NSCL ca had metz to the brain, and he has started radiation treatment, 5 days a week for 3 weks, hopefully this will take care of it.  I know that it  is starting to spread, I am scared. Any advice from anyone, Thanks

Hello,

We found out three weeks ago that my husband's cancer spread to his brain also. He is finishing up his treatment; he had 10 all together.

He seems much calmer since the treatment. Hopefully, they got this one. The only problem is they keep coming back.

Sorry to hear about your husband. Hopefully the readiation will be successful.

Valerie

My husband just started a clinical trial for a drug named patupilone.  It is a trial specifically for patients with NSCLC that has metastasized to the brain.  After one treatment, the tumors in the brain were stable and the lung cancer had shrunk.  The side effects are minimal.  Radiation (first whole brain and then SRS) held things at bay for about a year but then the tumors started growing again and he started this trial.  He cannot have any more radiation.  This is a very exciting new drug and my husband is responding to it.  Had we known about the study back in March, we would have done the study rather than SRS.  The SRS caused swelling and possibly necrosis that has affected his mental functions somewhat.  We are getting this drug at Sloan.  I hope this helps.

Thank you for the information about Patupilone. I am going to pass it on to my husband's onc.My husband's tumors are spreading everywhere. Our situation is so critical. These "things" are taking over.

I haven't checked my messages in a while so I apologize for not responding sooner.  My husband responded to Patupilone for about 3 months and then stopped responding.  The brain tumors shrank by about 50% and then grew back to where they were before he started Patupilone.  So we stopped the study and now he is taking Sutent off label.  This means it is an FDA approved drug so the doctor can prescribe it but it was approved for another purpose, in this case renal cancer, not lung cancer.  My insurance company would not cover the cost at $2,000 a week because they considered Sutent experimental for lung cancer. Pfizer is currently doing a trial for lung cancer that has metastasized to the brain and if you qualify, you can get the drug for free.  My husband did not qualify but we are hoping that Pfizer will give the drug to us through a patient assistance program.  After 3 weeks, he is better and it appears that the drug is working. 

I hope you have found something that has helped.  My heart goes out to anyone who is fighting cancer and cancer with brain metastasis is tough.  There are not a lot of options considered to be standard therapy for brain mets but they are experimenting in this area and I really believe that they are starting to make progress.

By the way, my husband's lung cancer shrank and then became completely stable on Patupilone.