I have a degree in Biomedical Engineering and Psychology from Northwestern University. I finished medical school and completed my M.D. at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. I am currently in my residency for surgery- hopefully to be specializing in neurosurgery.
I want to answer questions on medical type questions. I'm a big fan of Dr. Drew Pinsky on Love Line and would like to help younger people from the mistakes I see a lot of young people do when they come into my ER.
Gender: Male
Location: I'm from all over.
Occupation: Physician- Surgeon
Age: 29
AIM: ArunKSherma
Member Since: January 23, 2005
Answers: 188
Last Update: January 2, 2009
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Melanie4981
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I just found out ym 14 year old cousin has a tumor. they think it is on the brain stem but aren't 100% sure, because the doctor said she has not seen a tumore like this before. they started radiation today and he has to do it for 33 days (not including the weekends) and they don't now how affective it will be. one doctor told him, if the radiation didn't work they would try chemo therapy and if chemo didn't work, then he has the possibility of dying in a year. everyone in my family has hope in god that he will overcome this but my question is, how quickly does the tumor shrink in the case of radiation? could any herbal medications help? (link)
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You're doing the right thing, praying is always a good thing to do. I'm a doctor and even in the operating room, we sometimes pray that we do the best for our patients.
Your cousin is very young and there are several types of tumors that could be present in the brainstem area. Many times, these tumors are treatable, and a person can go on to live a very normal life with very little residual effect. However, I cannot tell you what type of tumor it is because I have not seen the CT/MRI to be able to tell you.
However, radiation does help and so does chemotherapy, however many times these are not the definitive treatment. As a surgeon, I would say that the only "real" cure often is to have surgery to remove the tumor. It is a very delicate operation- because it is in the brainstem which controls many of basic life functions- breathing, heartrate, etc. You would have to go to a specialty neurosurgeon to see about it and get evaluated.
If you want to contact me- email me at aksherma@mac.com- and let me know where your cousin lives, and I may know a neurosurgeon that I can tell him may be the best one to see. He would have to see a special pediatric neuro-onc neurosurgeon. They are trained very well (4 years med school + 6-7 years general neurosurgery residency + 2-3 years of pediatric neuro- oncology= 12-14+ years of training).
Best of luck,
AK
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Rating: 5
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I e-mailed you but i forgot to mention where he is. He lives in Hamilton, Georgia but it currently at Egleston Children's Hospital at Emory University of atlanta.
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