Brain Tumor Surgery | Immunotherapy
| Overview |
Procedures | Results
There has been no change in the management of primary
malignant tumors of the brain (Glioblastoma Multiforme and anaplastic
astrocytomas - astrocytomas Grades 3 and 4) for 20 years.
Radiation therapy can double life expectancy, and chemotherapy may add a
few more months to median survival. The modern use of Gamma Knife adjuvant
radiosurgery has further pushed the survival curve with its high response
rate, but still there is no cure for this dreaded disease. Survival may be
only 1 year from the time of diagnosis, with fewer than 5% living 5 years.
Thus, a new approach had to be undertaken.
Brain tumor cells, being foreign to the body, should
be able to be managed by our normal immunologic defenses as they would
if a bacterial or viral infection occurred. Furthermore, there should be
a "memory" of
the foreign pathogen such that if the immune system came in contact
with a tumor cell again, it could recognize and destroy it much like a
second exposure to chicken pox.
Because of the infiltrative nature of
Grade 4 astrocytomas versus the compact nature of Grade 1 astrocytomas, and
the presence of their hypothetical "immunosuppressive barrier",
the cure for this tumor must be a biological one such as immunotherapy.
Why doesn't this occur with primary
malignant tumors of the brain? We think that brain tumors have evolved
a way to evade our own defenses and produce a "wall" of immunosuppression.
The cure for this cancer may well lie in the breakdown of this wall,
or indeed the overwhelming of this wall.
Brain Tumor Surgery | Immunotherapy | Overview | Procedures | Results
For consultation appointments with Dr. Duma or
for more information regarding his brain tumor, GammaKnife radiosurgery,
and Parkinson's Disease programs at Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital
in Newport Beach, California (Orange County), please contact:
949-642-6787
Or E-mail Dr. Duma directly: drduma@cduma.com
Back to Top |
