Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Oligodendroglioma, IDH-mutant and 1p/19q-codeleted says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Oligodendroglioma is the adult brain tumour most responsive to chemotherapy. It is recognised by an IDH mutation together with loss of parts of chromosomes 1 and 19, and after surgery it is treated with radiotherapy plus the PCV drug combination, or, for small grade 2 tumours, with vorasidenib or watchful waiting. 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.
Maximal safe resection and molecular diagnosis with 1p/19q testing; observation is reasonable after gross total resection of a grade 2 tumour in a younger patient.
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.
Radiotherapy followed by PCV (procarbazine, lomustine, vincristine), the regimen validated in RTOG 9402, EORTC 26951 and RTOG 9802; radiotherapy with temozolomide is an alternative being compared in CODEL.
Vorasidenib (INDIGO) or continued observation.
Re-resection, temozolomide or lomustine, re-irradiation; bevacizumab for symptoms.
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.