medulloblastoma at age 14

jill · New User Joined: 02 Dec 2004 Posts: 1

What are the long term effects of a male who had surgery, radiation(3 months) and chemotherapy(3 months) for a stage M3 medulloblastoma that spread to the spinal cord at age 14? He is now 26 years old, What is the chance of reoccurence? At what age will he be considered to be at low risk of reoccurence and other secondary cancers? What are the secondary cancers he is at risk for?
_________________
dgrd

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hello

This is a very difficult question. Older patients have a good prognosis. As a matter of fact, the patient you are talking about is 26. As far as potential for other tumors, he is at risk of developing meningiomas, nerve sheath tumors, and possibly malignant glioma with cranial or craniospinal radiation therapy. He should be monitored for life.

best regards,
Leo
_________________
Leonardo F - Webmaster Cancer Forums
Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

beenthere · New User Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 1

Hi: I read your message about your 26 year old son. My husband was diagnosed with a Medulloblastoma at the age of 30 and just celebrated his 50th birthday with no recurrance and no other cancers having shown up. He had radiation treatment of his tumor and spinal column but not chemo. They were only able to remove 10% of the tumor with surgery and took care of the rest with the radiation.
He has health problems because of the high dose of steriods they gave him which damaged his joints (avascular necrosis) but they tell us that is an extremely rare side affect. Those problems surfaced within a couple years of his treatment so I don't think you have to worry about that now.
Thats what we experienced and I just wanted to share.

Helen · New User Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 2

From what I've read, medulloblastoma seems to follow Collins Law which is very simply that you can be considered cured once you have lived your diagnosis age over again. So by 28 he would be considered cured, but you should keep monitoring because there have been cases that don't follow the rule, and chemo and radiation put you at greater risk of other cancers. I would say at 12 years out you don't need to worry too much (but then I'm just a patient - not a doctor).
_________________
Funny thing about ideas - they won't work unless you do

	Cancer Forums Forum Index -> Brain Tumors Forum	All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

A website for discussions about any type of cancer, including lung cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, prostate cancer, laryngeal cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma and others