Most patients eventually die within 12 to 24 months of diagnosis as a result of disease progression. The tumors invade the brain and cause progressive neurologic symptoms such as paralysis, mental changes, headaches and seizures. Patients were treated with gamma knife radiosurgery either as part of their planned group of primary treatments or after other treatments failed. The gamma knife delivers a focused amount of radiation in a single treatment session. Tumors that were treated were generally one and one-half inches in diameter or less.
Patients are usually in the hospital only one day.
For glioblastoma patients, median survival from diagnosis was 26 months and 16 months after gamma knife radiosurgery, almost doubling survival in this group of selected patients. For anaplastic astrocytoma patients, median survival was 32 months compared to expected survival of 16 to 18 months. This is a very exciting development in the management of one of the most challenging forms of brain cancer.