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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Meningioma says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Meningiomas grow from the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord rather than from the brain itself. Most are slow and benign and are either watched or removed; radiotherapy or radiosurgery treats what surgery cannot reach or what grows back, and no drug has yet been approved for them. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
Observation with serial MRI; many never grow. Treatment when growth or symptoms appear.
Surgical resection as complete as safely possible; complete resection of a grade 1 tumour is usually curative and needs no adjuvant treatment.
Stereotactic radiosurgery (Gamma Knife, CyberKnife or linac) or fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy, with high long-term control rates for grade 1 tumours.
Fractionated radiotherapy after surgery (EORTC 22042-26042, RTOG 0539); proton therapy for large or re-irradiated skull base tumours; observation versus radiotherapy after complete resection of grade 2 tumours is under trial (ROAM/EORTC 1308, NRG BN003).
No approved drug. Bevacizumab, sunitinib or everolimus with a somatostatin analogue on phase 2 evidence; mutation-matched trials (Alliance A071401) and peptide receptor radionuclide therapy studies preferred.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Trials open now for this cancer in OnCo, largest phase first. Joining a trial is a decision like any other: ask what the comparison arm is, whether a placebo is used, and what happens if you leave. The cancer page searches ClinicalTrials.gov live for more.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.