Gamma knife procedure treats brain cancer
Brain cancer information: More people are now surviving cancer, only to find out they have another battle to fight and that cancer has spread to the brain.
Sharon Waller moved to Jacksonville with her husband about a decade ago with plans to retire. But those plans were shaken when Waller was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Then she was cancer free for more than 5 years.
But more than 10 years after beating breast cancer, she got a kidney stone. It was during a trip to the hospital to treat the stone that doctors found cancer had spread to her brain.
Oncologists say Waller's case is becoming more common. More people are beating cancer found elsewhere in the body, only to find it lurking in the brain.
But Baptist Health neurosurgeon Doctor Arnold Zeal says with a precise procedure called gamma knife, doctors are able to treat brain tumors when they're caught early.
That's why many oncologists are pushing for brain MRI's to become routine for anyone suspected of having metastatic or spreading cancer.
“The earlier we screen and the earlier we find something, the more effective the treatment is,” says Zeal.
Waller has now beaten brain cancer through the gamma knife procedure, thanks to early diagnosis on the trip to the E.R. years ago.
Lung and breast cancer are the most common types of cancer to spread to the brain, but it can happen with all cancers. While many doctors do screen cancer patients, right now there are no formal guidelines to ensure brain MRI's are routinely done.
Source: Fox30
Sharon Waller moved to Jacksonville with her husband about a decade ago with plans to retire. But those plans were shaken when Waller was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Then she was cancer free for more than 5 years.
But more than 10 years after beating breast cancer, she got a kidney stone. It was during a trip to the hospital to treat the stone that doctors found cancer had spread to her brain.
Oncologists say Waller's case is becoming more common. More people are beating cancer found elsewhere in the body, only to find it lurking in the brain.
But Baptist Health neurosurgeon Doctor Arnold Zeal says with a precise procedure called gamma knife, doctors are able to treat brain tumors when they're caught early.
That's why many oncologists are pushing for brain MRI's to become routine for anyone suspected of having metastatic or spreading cancer.
“The earlier we screen and the earlier we find something, the more effective the treatment is,” says Zeal.
Waller has now beaten brain cancer through the gamma knife procedure, thanks to early diagnosis on the trip to the E.R. years ago.
Lung and breast cancer are the most common types of cancer to spread to the brain, but it can happen with all cancers. While many doctors do screen cancer patients, right now there are no formal guidelines to ensure brain MRI's are routinely done.
Source: Fox30
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