Anaplastic Astrocytoma Recurrent Grade III

Licia
Licia Member Posts: 1
edited March 2014 in Brain Cancer #1
My brother has been diagnosed with Anaplastic Astrocytoma recurrent grade III brain tumor. It is inoperatable and for the last 4 years he has tried radiation and chemo (cbt11 with Avastin) and Temador. He most recently had to be taken off the Temador due to a drop in his blood platelets. His doctor now wants him to join a clinical trial of Tarceva and Sirolimus. Is anyone aware of the effectiveness of this treatment and the side effects?

My brother is having a difficult time dealing with the thought of starting another round of Chemo and would like to try an alternative method. I read on this discussion board about Dr. S. Burzynski. I would love to hear from anyone who is aware of his clinic and if you (or someone you know) has been treated at his clinic in Houston, TX.

Thank you,
Licia

Comments

  • David Lauser
    David Lauser Member Posts: 2
    #2
    Dr. Burzynski

     

    I am responding to this long after the post as my wife has recently been diagnosed with cancer.

     

    I/we have done exhaustive searches on all alternative medicines and what standard medicine has to offer.

    In our case, my wife has an inoperable brain tumor, i.e. a DIPG, which means a tumor located in the brainstem that is infused with healthy tissue.

    The only standard effective (temporary ) treatment is radiation....all neural-oncologists we've seen,  deem her prognosis as incurable and fatal.

    During our research, we came upon Dr. Burzynski's movie and contacted his clinic, along with survivors that were administered antineoplastons...and...a young boy who is actually on ANP therapy as I write this.

    The boy has outlived his prognosis of 6 months and has survived for over 2 years with the same type of tumor as my wife, a DIPG!

    Anyone  with any common sense would realize that if this Dr.'s treatment was ineffective and he was in fact a fraud, would ask why he is still in practice, why he hasn't been arrested...and more importantly, how could he have passed FDA Phase 1 & 2 Clinical trails, i.e. safety and efficacy and still be treating people and saving lives?

    On a more personal note, my wife has undergone radiotherapy.  We have consulted with every major cancer institution in the USA and all the experts say she is going to die within a year or so regardless of the radiation...she has double vision, can barely walk, talk or swallow...why can't we as Americans have the freedom to choose what medicine she she wants when the powers that be all say she's going to die anyway?

     

    Sincerely,

     

    David Lauser 

     P.s.,

    Here's is one of many validating testimonies:

    NARRATOR (reading along with title card of Dr. Nicholas Patronas):
    During this trial, one of the National Cancer Institute’s leading experts, Dr. Nicholas Patronas, a board-certified radiologist since 1973, professor of radiology at Georgetown University, and founder of the neuroradiology section of the National Cancer Institute [SOURCE: NIH Staff Pages]—recognized the absurdity of the Texas Medical Board’s case against Burzynski, put his own career on the line and flew himself to Texas to testify on Dr. Burzynski’s behalf. Dr. Patronas testified under oath his role at the National Cancer Institute.

     

    NARRATOR (reading along with the official court transcript from the May 24, 1993 hearing): [SOURCE: Original complete court transcript of the entire testimony 1993]

    Q (Jaffe): Basically, just in layman’s terms, you do all of the imaging work and interpretation for the National Cancer Institute’s testing of drugs?

    A (Dr. Patronas): Exactly. That’s my job, to assess the effectiveness of the drugs that are given there.

    Q (Jaffe): Did there come a time when you became aware of Dr. Burzynski?

    A (Dr. Patronas): Yes, the National Cancer Institute asked me to join a group of other physicians and scientists, and come to Houston on a site visit to Dr. Burzynski’s Institute. I was called as an expert  in assessing the images to evaluate the effectiveness of his treatment. The basic conclusion, was that in five of the patients with brain tumors, that were fairly large, the tumor resolved, disappeared.

    Q (Jaffe): And that’s part of what you do at the hospital, is to evaluate treatments on brain cancer patients? A: Well, since I am the neuroradiologist I see all brain tumors. And I see a large volume of them.

    Q (Jaffe): You testified that five of the patients had their tumors resolved, they all...

    A (Dr. Patronas): Disappeared.

    Q (Jaffe): Disappeared? Can you give us some kind of context of that? How often does that happen? Just by spontaneous remission?

    A (Dr. Patronas): I’m not aware that spontaneous remission occurs. The available treatments rarely produce results like that. The only medication, the only treatment, which I think is a last resort, is radiation therapy. Conventional chemotherapy is—provides very little, nothing, basically. So when this happens it is very rare. In these cases, all of the patients had already failed radiation.

    Q (Jaffe): What happens with these patients, who failed radiation, with brain cancer?

    A (Dr. Patronas): That’s it. They die.

    Q (Jaffe): You are saying, that if someone has already failed radiation, there’s not much else?

    A (Dr. Patronas): Nothing to offer, exactly.

    Q (Jaffe): And there is nothing that you can do at the National Cancer Institute?

    A (Dr. Patronas): Nothing we can do, not at this present time.

    Q (Jaffe): What about these five patients? How come they lived?

    A (Dr. Patronas): Well, it’s amazing, the fact that they are not handicapped from the side effects of any treatment, and the side effects of most aggressive treatments are worse than the tumor itself, so these particular individuals not only survived, but they didn’t have major side effects. So I think it’s impressive and unbelievable.

    Q (Jaffe): How many times have you seen this in your experience? How often does this happen?

    A (Dr. Patronas): I don’t. I have not seen it at any time.

    Q (Jaffe): Now, let me ask you your opinion or advice. Based on what you have seen, what would happen, let’s say, for some reason Dr Burzynski’s brain tumor patients can’t get his medicine anymore, and have to go off treatment. What’s going to happen to them?

    MR. HELMCAMP (prosecutor): Objection, Your Honor, not relevant.

    MR. JAFFE (defense): I think it is relevant. That’s really the issue we are advocating in this case.

    JUDGE: Overruled.

    A (Dr. Patronas): I think these patients will die. [SOURCE: Original complete court transcript of the entire testimony 1993 (same as above)]

     

  • Monica v
    Monica v Member Posts: 3
    #3
    anaplastic astrocytoma grade III

    Hello,

      My husband now age 61 was diagnosed in August 2016 with anaplastic astrocytoma grade III.  His symptoms were confusion, as in not knowing where outside faucets were, light switches, where we kept the coffee mugs, directions, forgetting where friends lived etc.  He has no peripheral vision in his right eye.  He was put on chemo meds and radiation thereapy for 6 weeks, but they were stopped due to critical wbc and platelets.  After 17 platelet transfusions,  He was finally able to complete his radiation treatments.  Chemo was stopped in OCtober.  He is very tired, sleeping almost all the time.  Going to Mount Sinai hospital doc this week to see if radiation has helped any.   And if he will resume chemo.  His tumor is very large and in both lobes, non operable.  Dr. was vague about prognosis.  I am heartbroken, having a lot of difficulty coping.  I find myself angry and feeling  extremely sad.  I have been with him since I was 15 years old! We were high school sweethearts and married at 19 years old.   He is all I know!  I have two sons in their 30's who are devestated as well, but very supportive.  However, they are not close by.   Looking for a way to learn to cope, how to past the feeling of hopelessness and how to make the time we have left good, instead of gloom.

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