Hope For Inoperable Brain Tumor Patient

Created by Henry Zhou on 24/01/2008

Category: Health
Region: All
Target: NovoCure

My aunt, Xiao An Wu was diagnosed with stage IV brain cancer (glioblastoma multiforme) a little after new years of this year (January 4, 2008). She began complaining of memory loss and the inability to recognize familiar words. Soon after she was taken to a local hospital for an MRI examination.

The doctors in China deemed that resection (surgery) was impossible because of the size of the tumors and the area of the brain in which the tumors were located. Her husband immediately took her to Shanghai, China to seek medical care. Currently, she is receiving radiation therapy over a 5-week span to slow the progress of the tumor. We do not know if the radiation has had any effect on the tumor because the more effective radiotherapies are too harmful for the effected area of the brain.

Glioblastoma cannot be cured. Without resection and chemotherapy survival rates are even lower. Most patients are given 6 months to a year to live. The 5-year survival rate is close to or at 0%. However there are several experimental clinical trials out there that have been shown to extend patients’ survival times or at least increase their quality of life.

We are exploring the NovoCure NovoTTF-100A device trial as a very viable option for Xiao An, given the circumstances and disease progression. This device uses electric fields generated through the scalp (powered by a battery pack) to halt tumor progression. The theory is that tumor cells have different electrical properties than normal cells and this causes them to break apart under the power of electrical fields. In a pilot trial conducted in Europe, 2/10 patients were free of tumor progression free while the other 8 patients doubled their survival times compared to subjects who received conventional treatment.

Due to extenuating factors (time, financial), the chances that Xiao An will be able to receive this type of treatment in the United States are slim. My uncle, her husband, has spent money out of pocket for the radiation treatment because Chinese insurance does not cover most of the medical charges. We are asking that NovoCure to please consider Xiao An as an international test subject and send their protocol to her and her doctors in China. In the least we ask that they consider her for treatment with their device.

The above picture was my aunt in our hometown of Nanchang, during the summer of 2006 when she was still well.

Thank you for your time and heart-felt consideration.