Radiation for 70 yr old (glioblastomas grade 4)?

Posted by antoines @antoines, Jan 20 12:03pm

Good afternoon,
A friend of mine learned that her dad was diagnosed with glioblastomas (grade 4.) He is 70 years old. He did the surgery and the surgeon asked the family whether to proceed with the chemo and radiation.
At this moment, he can barely walk.
The radiation will be around 8 weeks and we were wondering what would be the benefit of it. Reading articles, it seems that for his age, the gain would be marginal and if it is to gain 3 months more but 2 of them (at the start) are lost in daily radiation at the hospital, is it worth it?
Also, we were wondering as one of the potential benefit would be an health improvement (after some potential difficult moment during the chemo) but we could not find whether or not it would be the case?
Finally, is there any benefit in doing only chemo (which consist in daily pills but can be done at home hence less demanding)?
Did anyone had this dilemma and what was their choice/guidance? Any (recent) article/research paper?
For me it seems the most important question instead of increasing the life expectancy, is the state he will be in during/after the treatment.

Thanks for reading and any help would be more than welcome in this difficult moment

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thomhorowitz | @thomhorowitz | May 5 8:14pm

In reply to @lisamorris4272 "Thank you this gives me some hope xx" + (show)

I expected more side effects from radiation. Other than hair loss and skin burn, it was uneventful. Out of Rx and feeling well

djw | @djw | May 5 8:57pm

I have not posted about my wife, Anne, age 72, for several months. Last June diagnosed with Glio stage 4. Had surgery July 6, followed by 30 radiations and then 72 doses of chemo with the five on 23 days off routine. She was in excellent condition prior to diagnosis as she walked daily 4-5 miles. During treatment she lost 20 pounds she didn't need to lose because she lost her taste and smell. She is fortunate that she has minimal pain during the entire process. She only had one event of nausea from the chemo.

Last week she had her third consecutive MRI with no results of tumor progression. The oncologist has taken her off chemo and MRI's will now be at 3 month intervals. About two months ago she began recovering her taste and is now eating regularly and gaining back the weight she lost.

She has brain fog which is frustrating to her. Her gait has changed along with her balance being impaired, but she can still walk ok. I need to be holding her hand when we are walking outdoors so she doesn't trip. Her energy level is also impaired. In spite of a scaled back life style we can still enjoy being together and doing many of the routine things in life like going to church, the store, out to dinner with friends. We have no guarantee how long she will be stable. Nonetheless, we thank God for the time we have together now, and for the past 10 months. Neither of us regret the choice to go thru the treatment she did.
Dan

thomhorowitz | @thomhorowitz | May 9 10:37am

In reply to @thomhorowitz "I expected more side effects from radiation. Other than hair loss and skin burn, it was..." + (show)

We shave a % on these treatments, but it does help family to know we tried. Sadly thisc1:100000 Dd has struck twice in our family. My brother in law and now me. Time to nip away at my bucket list.

thomhorowitz | @thomhorowitz | May 9 10:40am

Oral Rex seems to work better with radiation. I had a few hair patch los at burn site. New equipment is much more focused than old whole brain zapping. Look into truebeam option

Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | May 13 4:48pm

In reply to @lisamorris4272 "This is what I am dreading for my dad too He’s having the op Thursday and..." + (show)

@lisamorris4272, how is your dad doing after surgery? How are YOU doing?

thomhorowitz | @thomhorowitz | May 14 9:41pm

So much depends on where the tumor is. There are more forgiving areas and those with less elasticity, Ability of other parts of brain to fill in the void). I had a right temporal lobe removed with very little neurologic change. Back on TMZ a week a month and looking at optune unit. to suppress any bad cells left.

thomhorowitz | @thomhorowitz | May 14 9:43pm

In reply to @djw "I have not posted about my wife, Anne, age 72, for several months. Last June diagnosed..." + (show)

I get MRI each 2 months. Just love feeling like I am in a torpedo tube hoping no one yells "Fire".

nancyhafer | @nancyhafer | May 15 8:28am

Hello…does anyone struggle with obsessive itching with a grade 4 glioblastoma?

thomhorowitz | @thomhorowitz | May 17 2:46pm

I find atarax helps. OTC antihistamines do not cut it. Topical lidocaine has been useful as well.

lisamorris4272 | @lisamorris4272 | May 23 8:57am

In reply to @nancyhafer "My partner Bill a 70 year old healthy man had a craniotomy October 3 to remove..." + (show)

Hi so Dad had the craniotomy 2 weeks ago today, they managed to remove it all. you wouldn't know, hes marvellous, like nothings happened. this week we went to see consultant and told it was GMB Grade 4 so the worst kind of brain cancer.
he is very optimistic and wont let this get in his way of living.. he didn't want to know the prognosis..
he starts radiotherapy 5 days a week for 6 weeks, soon, we don't have a date set yet.
so far things are going well. so happy Dad is thriving and hasn't changed.

How is Bill doing ?