Expert: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, M.D. - 4/6/2008

Question
I am 20 years old, about 6 years ago my mother fell and hit her head off the corner of a 5 in raised concrete sidewalk. She was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer’s, and was in the hospital for almost 4 months. She goes to a neurologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has continued to get worse on the road to recovery and, has sever fits, where she gets up set and causes a danger to those around her for the short time she is upset. After several tests and concerns about her lack of recovery and more over the increase in problems. They did a scan to see if it was scar tissue or seizures. Sadly, it turned out to be Scarring; the scar tissue had consumed 65% of the left Occipital Lobe and 35% of the right Occipital Lobe. The doctors say there is nothing that they can do, but I do not want to believe or accept that, yet. I want to know if there is something that can be done, anything at all, injections, surgery, radiation... I want so badly to save her. If there is anything hat can be done at all, please someone tell me, if not, just give it to me straight I guess I can handle it.

Answer
I'm sorry! This is completely outside my area of expertise here. This is a question for an expert of neurology and maybe for an expert of neurosurgery. I'm neither. I'm a medical oncologist and radiation therapist with experience of treating brain tumors. So my area of expertise here is the subject of brain tumors ONLY. This has nothing to do with brain tumors and none of the treatment methods I'm an expert of (radiation & chemo therapy) would be useful in a case like this. So I strongly do suggest that you discuss this with an expert of neurology.