lung cancer has spread to brain

Good morning, @curiouskitty, I haven’t had personal experience with this form of treatment. But, twelve years ago a very close friend of mine had renal (kidney) cancer which metastasized to her lungs and brain. Her kidney was removed and the lung cancer treated successfully.
She then had radiation treatments to zap the areas in her brain. It’s amazing technology. Precise doses of radiation beamed at tumors while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy tissue. She really didn’t have any notable side effects and even continued to supervise the building of her new house at the time.

Fast forward twelve years, at 73, my friend continues to enjoy her very active life of travel, biking, kayaking, hiking, art work, civic activities, etc., without skipping a beat!
I’m sure others who have had this treatment will be able to talk more about how the procedure is done with mapping and such. But I thought I’d share my friend’s success story.

Sending positive thoughts your way!

@loribmt thank you for sharing that information. I hope my treatment will be as successful!

I was in the same situation, I was diagnosed with stage 1a adenocarcinoma of my right middle lobe in 2022. They removed the whole middle lobe and all of the follow up scans had been clean, but, they didn’t do any brain MRIs. Since it was caught early and removed they thought I was all clear. But, last year I started having some issues with my left foot, feeling a tightness around my foot. I thought it was neuropathy, but, they did a brain MRI and a biopsy and determined that the adenocarcinoma had spread to my brain causing my motor issue.s. I had what they call the LINAC radiation procedure which is very similar to the gamma knife, but, this only takes about 15 minutes of radiation and they don’t have to screw a mask to your head. Instead they make a customized mask that screws onto itself and the to the table. I didn’t feel anything and was able to go home about half an hour later. This was only done last month, I have to wait 3 months to do another brain MRI to see if it has reduced in size. Meanwhile, I will start taking tagriso to prevent it from coming back. I’m also doing PT to help with my walking gait but so far have not noticed much changes in my mobility issues. I’m hoping that it will improve with time.
Did you have any symptoms before they diagnosed your brain cancer?

@loribmt thank you for sharing, this gives us all a lot of hope to overcome this. We used to travel a lot until I started having issues with my walking gait. My husband keeps on planning future trips but I’m a little reserved until my walking issues improve. Really hope to get back to traveling normal again.

I've never heard of that technology, but I hope it works out for you and you recover quickly. I'm curious, we're you on a treatment plan for your lung cancer when it spread to your brain? I'm on a TKI, but I've heard of the lung cancer spreading to the brain while on meds. That worries me.

I had 5 fractions using the Varian Truebeam in 2020. I was supposed to get Gamma knife but the lesions became too big.

I drove myself to and from each treatment no problems. I had some vision issues that cleared up after the last treatment and my wife drove home. I could have but just in case.

I had no hair at that point but when my hair initially grew back it was jet Black everywhere except where I had radiation. That area was pure white. It eventually all went back to normal.

1 Year later I developed cerebral radiation necrosis. I killed more brain cells at the radiation site and I lost my peripheral vision to the left. I had been treated with Avastin and boswelia as well as pentoxifylline, vitamin e and boswelia. Avastin is expensive and insurance probably won't cover it without symptoms, but unfortunately if you have neurological symptoms the damage is most likely permanent. Had I known about pentoxifylline st the first sign of necrosis I have asked for it. It can be hsd for as low as $5 for a 30 day supply with insurance. May or may not have saved my vision but waiting for the SOC symptoms guaranteed permanent brain damage.

Even with that. I would do it again. My last MRI was in May. Still no cancer, just the necrosis.

@panda2ac I’m so sorry you experienced that progression, hope the gamma knife took care of it and your gait will improve. No symptoms for me. I had requested the brain MRI to see if blood clots that were there and caused a small stroke had been dissolved by my body. That and I have been paranoid about spread there since my father died of a glioblastoma. My procedure yesterday focused on 25 small spots. I seem to be fine today so I’m hoping there won’t be more to treat. I have another mri at the first of November as the number doubled in a month.

@nadine78 yes I have had Keytruda since December 2025 and 6 chemo treatments that just concluded at the end of August but without any targetable mutations it is probably difficult to treat. Just keep stomping out the fires!

@edivebuddy
I will hope you have no more occurrences to deal with!
I’m not familiar with the medicines and supplements you used to help your condition. I’ll have to look into them. I certainly hope the best for your vision. That must be difficult to deal with and any permanent brain damage scares me. If I progress to a need for whole brain treatment I am thinking of seeing if a proton therapy might be available as side effects from that should be less.

For cerebral radiation necrosis there are no FDA approved treatments. there are 3 treatments they will generally use. bevacizumab (Avastin) and it's nosimilars with steroids. Obviously steroids are not an ideal long term solution. That's where the boswelia comes in. It's control the swelling in my brain for 5 years now.

The other is hyperbaric oxygen therapy. It's temporary, Time consuming and many places don't have it. Then pentoxifylline plus vitamin e. Cheap, effective for many, and way fewer side effects than Avastin.

Had it not been for the osteonecrosis of the jaw requiring extensive dental we work I might still be on it. But had to quit and went back to pentoxifylline for both the osteonecrosis and radiation necrosis. It was working just as well so I stuck with the pentoxifylline.