Loading
Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Spinal cord tumours (intramedullary and intradural) says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Tumours inside or around the spinal cord are rare and usually slow growing, but they press on the cord and threaten walking and bladder control. Most are removed by a surgeon watching nerve signals during the operation; radiotherapy is used when a tumour cannot be fully removed or is high grade, and there are few drugs. 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.
Belzutifan, the HIF-2 alpha inhibitor approved for VHL-associated central nervous system haemangioblastomas, with surveillance imaging.
Gross total resection with intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring; complete removal is usually curative and needs no adjuvant treatment.
Focal radiotherapy with intensity-modulated or proton techniques; temozolomide for high-grade astrocytoma by extrapolation.
Resection when symptomatic or growing; radiosurgery for residual or recurrent tumour where the cord dose allows; observation for small asymptomatic lesions.
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.
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.