No One Really Knows the Answer

In preparation for my appointment with the radiation oncologist, I found a couple of studies/ websites about doing WBR after surgery. The conclusion? There really isn't good evidence to suggest that WBR will actually improve my overall survival.

Here is what the Brain Mets Breast Cancer site says:


http://www.brainmetsbc.org/content/current-treatments-brain-metastases

Notice that one study showed that if there was just one tumor, WBR definitely showed a better survival rate. I, however, had two.

In this article, from researchers out of Europe, researchers found that while WBR helped tumors from growing following surgery, it didn't actually improve survival rates or improved neurological functioning.

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/29/2/134.short

So . . . Maybe the fact that I have had two sessions of WBR (granted weeks apart), maybe argues that I should instead wait to do WBR until a recurrence shows up, and in the meantime, do what I can to build up my immune system to keep a recurrence from happening and use Tykerb, too, of course.

As Dad said, it is a quality of life issue. And maybe I should get a second opinion?