Expert: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, M.D. - 9/21/2009

Question
OMG! My father was diagnosed with a grade 4 brain tumor about a month ago. Is there no hope? Is there nothing more that can be done? He will be starting radiation and chemo today. The doctors have said that the tumor is too large to be removed by surgery. And then we were told that there is a satellite tumor on top of the large one along with tentacles around the tumor. He has already lost a lot of weight and gets confused. Will this get worse? How long can a person, my dad is 65, live with radiation and chemo treatments? What can I do to make this easier for my father? And why can no one tell me what caused the tumor?

Answer
Unfortunately the prognosis of this kind of tumor is very bad. Apart from radiation therapy & chemotherapy nothing can be done unfortunately since surgery is not possible (but his prognosis would be as bad even with surgery, he would just live somewhat longer). Yes unfortunately it will get worse. He will become more and more confused and sleep more and more. When he sleeps all the time his end will be near. He will then drift into a coma and then pass away. There may also be stroke like symptoms and even epileptic fits. There will be little pain if any. With full therapy (surgery, radiation therapy & chemotherapy)his survival time would probably have been around one year or somewhat longer. Without surgery it may be somewhat shorter than that. He will need a lot of support since later on he will be completely unable to take care of himself. No one knows at present what causes brain tumors including this one. I'm sorry I have nothing better to tell you!