Awareness
According to the American Cancer Society, about 21,000 malignant tumors of the brain or spinal cord will be diagnosed during 2008 in the United States. With about 50% of them being Glioma type tumors and less than 50% of those being anaplastic astrocytomas (the kind that Beth has been diagnosed with. About 13,000 people will die from these tumors. This would account for about 1.5% of all cancers and 2.3% of all expected cancer-related deaths in 2008. Malignant tumors are most common in adults ages 45-55, and affect more men than women. Anaplastic astrocytomas occur more often in younger adults.
Last month I wrote about the fact that the first round of chemo treatment that Beth started last year was determined to be ineffective. She has been through a couple of rounds now of her new treatment. The new protocol is somewhat new in the worlds of brain tumor treatment and there have been some great anecdotal stories about its success. Hard data though isn’t yet available from most sources.
Twice a month we will be making a trip to the hospital for infusions of her new chemotherapy drugs. Once a month it will be a combination of two different drugs, Avastin and Carboplatin. Then two weeks later we will be back for a single infusion of the Avastin. Both of these drugs have been around, used with other forms of cancer as treatments and have been recently been approved by insurance companies and Medicare for use with some types of brain cancer. The FDA hasn’t officially approved the combination, however reviews are in progress to have Avastin approved.
Avastin is a drug from the cytostatic group, and works to interfere with a tumors ability to develop blood vessels to it, effectively starving the tumor. It also makes the tumor more receptable to any cytotoxic agents, like Carboplatin, helping to kill tumor cells.
Our days at the hospital can be long when we go for the combination of infusions. The first time we went in we were there for 6 ½ hours. We hope that those times shorten as the process becomes easier for Beth to tolerate the drugs. The days where only the Avastin is administered we expect to keep under 4 hours, providing all is going well in the various departments that have to interact during the treatment (lab, pharmacy and the infusion unit). One nice thing about the location of where we spend those hours is that they have a great view of Montlake and Mt Rainier!
One other fact about Beth’s current treatment… Avastin is possibly one of the most expensive drugs out on the market right now. We just got the first notice of billing from the UW; almost $9,000 each treatment! So that would total almost $18,000 each month! Remains to be seen of course how much the insurance will reimburse. Good thing Beth’s treatment team worked on getting the pre-authorization before hand! I feel sick thinking about those who don’t have insurance, or can’t get it covered….
