Brain mets

tmd
tmd Member Posts: 39
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
My wife has been having some trouble with "mini strokes". She has been getting right arm and sometimes right side numness. Going for some tests to see if its mets to the brain. They say colon cancer doesn`t go to the brain. Has anybody known of anybody who has had mets to the brain from colon cancer?

Comments

  • goldfinch
    goldfinch Member Posts: 735
    #2
    I've been dealing with rectal cancer with mets to lungs for several years now.
    This spring i started to get headaches and my equilibrium was a bit off. (i don't typically get headaches).
    Anyway, when we did a routine cat of chest and abd I requested a ct of the head.
    It showed 2 tumors for sure in the brain and 2 possible other ones.
    I've had 14 treatments of radiation therapy to the brain. Radiation onc feels this will do the trick. Doesn't want to do ct head yet, as radiation is still supposed to be working.
    Both my onc and radiation onc says it's unusual, but I'm beginning to wonder.
    Mary
  • kmygil
    kmygil Member Posts: 876 Member
    #3
    I'm sorry about the mini strokes. I don't know if your wife's cancer is due to HNPCC (hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer). Mine is. If it is, the cancer risks in decending order are as follows: colon cancer ~85%; endometrial cancer ~70%; kidney/bladder cancers ~13-15%; brain cancer ~10%. But like we always say, these are numbers and everyone is different. When was your wife's last treatment? Has the oncologist considered that this might be an artifact of chemo? I have heard of mets to the brain, but I don't think it is all that common; with HNPCC, all the cancers I listed above are primaries, not mets. At least that's my understanding which could be VERY faulty. Let us know what the tests show. I pray it is something minimal.
  • FRANTIC
    FRANTIC Member Posts: 106
    #4
    In Aug.2003 I had ca/colon stage 4, 8/20 lymph nodes positive. The cancer was not in the liver or lungs. It started in the cecum broke out of the wall grew across the pelvis and attached itself to the sigmoid. In April 2007 I found a lump on my head from out of no where. I finally convinced the Drs to do an MRI of the head. It showed a 3.5cm by 3cm mass in the skull headed towards the brain. Two other small lesions were also found in the skull. The Dr. feels it traveled thru the lymph nodes. I am now completing 15 days of radiation to the skull.
    FRan

Discussion Boards