Patients with Low-grade glioma (LGG) brain tumours, have been advised to consider skipping medical treatment since the consequences of treatment could be worse that the disease itself.
Patients with the most common type, typically live for an average of around 10 years after their condition is diagnosed. Statistical numbers has revealed that for some patients the risks of radiotherapy can potentially outweight its benefits.
A recent study done by the VU University Medical Center, in Amsterdam confirmed the grim warning. The findings are published in the Lancet Neurology journal. The study looked at 65 patients, around half of whom had received radiotherapy.
Researchers discovered that radiotherapy treatment significantly impairs the quality of life of most of its subjects. Brain cancer radiotherapy treatment was found to affect the cognitive skills, including attention, memory and the processing of information. Its effects are still strong an average of 12 years after treatment.
The researchers found that more than 53 per cent, of those who had been given radiotherapy had some form of serious cognitive problems, whereas only 25% percent of those who did not undergo radiotherapy suffer mild cognitive losses. Cognitive problems often wipe out memories of patients, or create demetia-like conditions, destroying any remaining quality of life for the patients, and creating additional problems for max-ed out relatives who bear the burden.
According to Linda Douw from VU University Medical Center, in Amsterdam, who led the study :
“The current results indicate that radiotherapy is associated with long-term cognitive deterioration, regardless of fraction dose…[and indicate that] all surviving patients who had radiotherapy are at risk of developing attentional problems, not just those who were given a high-level dose.”
She cautioned that for some patients that deferring treatment might be the best way to maximise their quality of life.
Cannabis and Brain Cancer
Meanwhile, there is proven research that cannabinoids (CBD) a chemical obtained from the cannabis plant is one of the most effect anti-glioma treatments. CBD effectively attacks and neutralizes all diseased cancer cells in the brain while leaving the healthy ones untouched. See http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/64/16/5617
According to one article: “cannabinoids inhibit the growth of different types of tumor cells, including glioma cells, in laboratory animals. They do so by modulating key cell signaling pathways, mostly the endoplasmic reticulum stress response, thereby inducing antitumoral actions such as the apoptotic death of tumor cells and the inhibition of tumor angiogenesis. Of interest, cannabinoids seem to be selective antitumoral compounds, as they kill glioma cells, but not their non-transformed astroglial counterparts.” See Velasco G, et al., “Cannabinoids and gliomas” Mol Neurobiol. 2007 Aug;36(1):60-7. Epub 2007 Jun 28.
Cannabis is yet to recognized by the United States and the United Nations as a legal medicine. About 4,500 people are diagnosed with brain tumours each year.
Source
Kate Devlin, Medical Correspondent: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5999052/Radiotherapy-can-damage-memories-of-patients-treated-for-brain-tumours.html