A doctor has listed five frequent indicators that you might have a brain tumor that might k!ll you in 15 months.
Glioblastoma is a brain tumor that is very aggressive and often de@dly. It k!lls thousands of people every year.
Most people with glioblastoma only live for 14 to 16 months after being diagnosed. But knowing the early warning signals can be very important for getting a diagnosis and maybe even extending life.
Costa Fantis, a 57-year-old father of four from the UK, is one recent case that showed how subtle the early signs of cancer may be.
Fantis, who had Stage 4 glioblastoma, first detected a “strange sweet caramel smell.”
Antonio, Fantis’s 27-year-old son, remarked, “We didn’t think much of it.” We had no idea that was a sign of something so bad.
Michael Bolton, 72, who has won two Grammys, also started to have trouble with his balance, got nauseous, had terrible migraines, and was confused before being diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2023.
These symptoms, even if they may not appear serious, are often the first signs of the lethal malignancy.
Dr. Joseph Georges, a neurosurgeon from the University of Arizona College of Medicine, talked about how hard it is to diagnose glioblastoma because it is “invasive.”
He told The New York Post that it spreads tiny cancer cells deep into nearby brain tissue, making it tough to totally eradicate with surgery.
Fantis’s glioblastoma seems to have grown in the temporal lobe, which is the area of the brain that processes scents. This could explain the peculiar caramel smell he had.
Dr. Georges said that depending on where the tumor is, people may have headaches, confusion, seizures, trouble speaking, or weakness on one side of the body.
Bolton’s daughters saw strange conduct during a family bowling night, which was the first sign that something was awry.
The risk factors for glioblastoma are still not fully known, even though roughly 14,500 new cases are identified in the US each year.
Dr. Georges says that the cancer usually affects people between the ages of 45 and 70. He also says that some genetic problems and exposure to ionizing radiation can raise the risk, but most cases happen without any known risk factors.
A CT scan or MRI is used to find glioblastoma, and a tissue biopsy is used to confirm the diagnosis. Glioblastoma is still one of the hardest brain tumors to cure, even with new technologies and medicines. This is because it grows in a diffuse way and doesn’t respond to normal therapies.
Dr. Georges said that the tumor’s infiltrative nature makes it hard to completely remove. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy are usually performed combined, but the outlook is still not good.
But Dr. Georges has had good outcomes with a more tailored treatment plan: DOC1021, a specialist cell therapy. This new treatment employs the patient’s own immune cells, called dendritic cells, to attack the tumor.
The cells are exposed to tumor antigens outside the body, where they multiply and are sent back to the patient to help fight the malignancy.
Dr. Georges added that this method is very tailored and thorough because it employs the patient’s own immune cells and doesn’t involve changing their genes.
Diakonos Oncology’s DOC1021 has demonstrated good outcomes, with some patients living for 24 to 36 months, which is substantially longer than the usual 14 to 16 months.
Early clinical trials showed that 88% of patients survived after 12 months, which is a lot higher than the 60% survival rate that is usually found with traditional therapy.
Pamela Goldberger, 65, from New Jersey, was one of these patients. She had glioblastoma and had surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and the DOC1021 cell treatment.
She is now back to playing tennis and living an active life two and a half years later. She remarked, “I’m living my best life right now, and I don’t feel limited by not being able to do what I want to do.”