Met To Brain 4 Yrs After Adenocarcinoma

My mother was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma in Jan 2004. After 6 months of chemo , she was started on Iressa. The drug worked like a miracle and all her cancer was gone in 2months. After more than 4 yrs of being cancer free, she recently started being more fatigued, depressed, had slurred speech, memory loss symptoms. Contrast MRi of brain indicates very tiny spots indicating met to the brain. She no longer can talk and has lost her speech. She recognizes everyones, smiles, occassionally says a few words. She can no longer take food from mouth or take care of herself.

 Any recommendations what should be the next step. She is in India and thanks to internet we found out about Iressa which gave 4 more yrs to her.Its extremely hard to see her suffer like this. I pray to God not to make her suffer. But if there is anything we can try , we would like to.

A

I thought I read somewhere that they used targeted radiation when mets went to

brain.  Talk to a radioligist/oncologist.

Hi

What is Iressa, and where do you get it...is this an RX.  My husband has Stage IV Lung Cancer.  Just completed Carbo/Taxol, most recent scans showed improvment and stable.  We are doing nothing for now until next scans in September.  

My husband also had brain mets, which radation took care of, thank god!

Thanks for your assistance,

Iressa is once a day drug manufactured by Astra Zeneca that came to the market around 2001. It was taken off the market by FDA due to it being beneficial to a very small segment of patients(non-smokers, Asian women,adenocarcinoma). It is still available in Europe and Asia(at about 10% of cost in US..my Mom's monthly supply costs $350).

Hope everything come out great for your husband in Sep scans.Good Luck .

A