A documentary dedicated to Lauren Kaye
Produced by Stan Swartz

Brain tumor opens her mind to art: "After a brain tumor was removed from the left side of Sandy Allen's brain, she began art therapy sessions that unleashed the artist she never knew existed. She is shown here in her home in front of a wall she collaged using pictures from magazines."

MORE....according to an Associated Press article released earlier this month. The recommendation stems from the availability of sophisticated new treatments including stereotactic radiosurgeryfor metastatic brain tumors that are detected early.
Neurologists from the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch (CINN) and the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center explained that cancer patients are surviving longer, which increases the risk of metastatic brain tumors. Up to 40 percent of lung cancer patients and 33 percent of breast cancer patients develop these tumors. Patients with melanoma, kidney cancer, and colon cancer are also at risk. Routine brain scans can detect these tumors, which can be treated with drugs as well as stereotactic radiosurgery.
Among the sophisticated radiosurgery treatment options for patients at CINN is Gamma Knife(R) surgery. There is also a Leksell Gamma Knife(R) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Overall, Leksell Gamma Knife(R) is installed at more than 100 facilities in the U.S. (for center locations, visit http://www.elekta.com). Leksell Gamma Knife(R) from Elekta remains the solution of choice and the standard of care for intracranial stereotactic radiosurgery.
'The combination of early detection and Gamma Knife(R) surgery provides one of the best possible outcomes for patients who are treated via stereotactic radiosurgery,' says Jim Rose, VP Marketing, North America. 'It also offers the gentlest care. Because the procedure is wholly noninvasive, patients often go home the same day they receive treatment.'
Often referred to as 'the gold standard' for radiosurgery, the Leksell Gamma Knife(R) from Elekta is the standard of care for neurosurgery, with thousands of published papers on treatment efficacy and improved quality of life for patients.
Gamma Knife(R) surgery is a noninvasive method for treating targets in the brain. It delivers a single, high dose of irradiation to the precisely located target, without harming the surrounding healthy tissue."

Vaccine Slows Glioblastoma In Phase II Trial:
[Abstract - medpagetoday]
"A novel vaccine appears to sharply extend life expectancy in people with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), according to results of a phase II clinical trial presented here today. The vaccine targets the epidermal growth factor receptor variant III (EGFRvIII), a tumor-specific cell surface protein expressed on about 30% of GBM tumors but absent on normal tissues, said Amy Heimberger, M.D., an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. 'Median survival has not yet been reached' for the 23 patients enrolled in the clinical trial, conducted at M. D. Anderson and at Duke University Medical Center, Dr. Heimberger said in a statement before her presentation at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons here. However, after an average of a year of follow-up, she said, median survival is at least 19 months. By contrast, she said, median survival is 14 months for patients with GBM who are treated with radiation and Temodar (temozolomide)...."

BBC NEWS | Health | Hope for new brain tumour vaccine:
"A vaccine has been developed which may be able to fight the most aggressive form of brain tumour, scientists say.

US researchers say their vaccine increased survival times for the 23 glioblastoma multiforme patients they tested it on by at least 18 months.

Only four patients went on to die from the cancer, the study to be presented at a meeting of experts in the US said.

A larger trial of the jab, which works by targeting a protein thought to drive the tumour's spread, is now planned.
This is exciting because people have been trying to use immunotherapy against gliomas for a long time
Amy HeimbergerResearcher
It uses an artificial form of the protein, which is found on the outside of 30-50% of tumours, to alert the immune system to its presence and attack it.

The brain is tricked into thinking the protein, known as EGFRvIII, is foreign, and fighter cells in the immune system are sent in.

Amy Heimberger, assistant professor of neurosurgery at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas, said the vaccine was an easy-to-use 'off-the-shelf' treatment that could potentially help half of all patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)."

READ MORE: "MGI PHARMA, INC. (Nasdaq:MOGN) today announced the
publication of long-term (56 month) follow-up data showing that
Gliadel(R) Wafer provides a durable long-term survival benefit for
patients with high-grade malignant glioma.

Gliadel Wafer is approved by the FDA for treatment of patients
with newly-diagnosed high-grade malignant glioma as an adjunct to
surgery and radiation. Gliadel Wafer is also indicated to treat
recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in addition to surgery. The
approval was based on clinical trial results showing the median
survival of patients with high-grade malignant gliomas increased to
13.9 months from 11.6 months, and the median survival of patients with
recurrent GBM increased to 6.4 months from 4.6 months."

MORE: "Darcie Tossetti has her brain to herself now.

Gone is the tumor she affectionately called 'Klingon.'
The grape-sized growth, lodged in her frontal lobe, was removed at
Loma Linda University Medical Center in December 2004.
A scar on her forehead, along her hair line from her left ear to her
right ear, is the only outward evidence of Darcie's eight-hour surgery
to extricate the alien invader.
The growth was diagnosed two months earlier as a meningioma, a benign
tumor that develops between the lining of the brain and the skull.
'On Oct. 16, 2004, I heard five words that would change mine and my
family's lives forever you have a brain tumor,' Darcie recalls.
'I was lucky. They got it while it was still relatively small. It
was a slow-growing tumor,' she says. 'When I realized how lucky I was,
I stopped feeling sorry for myself.'"

THIS VIDEO WAS FILMED AT LAST YEARS SSBTR WALKATHON


A MD Health Channel production

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