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A popular form of contraception used by millions of women across the world has been linked to an increased risk of a rare brain tumor. Recent research published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggests a connection between the use of injectable medroxyprogesterone acetate — a type of progestogen used by roughly 74 million women globally for birth control — and the increased risk of meningioma, a brain tumor that affects the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. While usually benign, meningiomas potentially lead to serious complications due to their location. The study, carried out by French researchers, used...

Patients with glioblastoma—the deadliest type of primary brain tumor—may potentially benefit from immunotherapy medications called immune checkpoint inhibitors that stimulate an immune response against cancer cells. However, they may also experience brain swelling, or cerebral edema, during treatment. Cerebral edema is currently controlled by steroids that are highly immunosuppressive and thus, counter the benefit of immunotherapy. Thus, new drugs that control edema safely without causing immunosuppression are urgently needed. New research reveals that the blood pressure drug losartan can prevent immunotherapy-induced edema. The findings indicate that taking losartan may allow patients to continue receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors without developing adverse...

A cancer survivor is vowing to untangle the twisted mystery of why almost 100 people associated with a New Jersey high school have developed “extremely” rare malignant brain tumors. Al Lupiano is among the 94 former staff and students from Colonia High School in the Woodbridge Township School District who have been stricken by the devastating diagnoses in recent years. “I will not rest until I have answers,” Lupiano, 50, declared in an interview with NJ.com and the Star Ledger on Thursday. “I will uncover the truth.”

A study describes a new and effective therapy to treat glioblastoma: the concomitant use of ADI-PEG20 together with focal brain radiotherapy. This double treatment completely eliminated the tumor in the animal models used in the study. Currently, glioblastoma is a terminal disease whose average life expectancy is less than two years. The treatments used at present are based on therapies that are more than 30 years old. The results of this study offer a new therapeutic option against glioblastoma: the use of the drug ADI-PEG20, which eliminates systemic arginine, in combination with the application of focal brain radiotherapy. With this,...

A British man who rejected the standard of care to treat his brain cancer has lived with the typically fatal glioblastoma tumor growing very slowly after adopting a ketogenic diet, providing a case study that researchers say reflects the benefits of using the body's own metabolism to fight this particularly aggressive cancer instead of chemo and radiation therapy. Published recently in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition, the report is the first evaluation of the use of ketogenic metabolic therapy (KMT) without chemo or radiation interventions, on a patient diagnosed with IDH1-mutant glioblastoma (GBM). Ketogenic therapy is a non-toxic nutritional approach,...

Collins was three months shy of seven years old when surgeons sliced open his skull and removed a third of his brain’s right hemisphere. For two years prior, a benign tumor had been growing in the back of his brain, eventually reaching the size of a golf ball. The tumor caused a series of disruptive seizures that gave him migraines and kept him from school. ... Surgeons cut out the entire right occipital lobe and half of the temporal lobe of Collins’ brain. Those lobes are important for processing the information that passes through our eyes’ optic nerves, allowing us...

Nearly six months after an 11-year-old old Texas girl was diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, doctors can no longer find a trace of it after her family and friends prayed for a miracle. “And we got it,” said Gena Doss, the mother of Roxli Doss, in an interview with KVUE. And now everyone is thanking God for His blessing. “Praise God we did,” her husband, Scott, said. Dr. Virginia Harrod with Dell Children’s Medical Center told KVUE that DIPG is a rare and devastating disease. "It is very rare, but when we...

In what seems like a Christmas miracle, the inoperable brain tumor of an 11-year-old girl in Texas has disappeared, and doctors say they don’t know why. Roxli Doss was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, in June, as KVUE reported, and went through weeks of radiation. Her parents, Gena and Scott, prayed for a miracle and they got it. Her mom said: “It’s kind of our family thing that God healed Roxli.” The girl’s medical team are equally in a state of disbelief.

.Mobile phones may be behind a surge in a deadly brain tumor, scientists say. Cases of glioblastoma in England soared from 983 to 2,531 between 1995 and 2015, figures from the Office of National Statistics reveal. The rise was across all age groups and came as cases of lower-grade tumors fell.

The statements come as South Korea’s defence minister has called for the re-establishment of nuclear missiles as a response to Pyongyang’s nuclear tests. Speaking to CNN, Senator McCain said: “Washington needs to make sure that Kim Jong-Un knows that if he acts in an aggressive fashion, the price will be extinction. "The Korean defence minister just a few days ago called for nuclear weapons to be redeployed, it ought to be seriously considered....

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, suggested Tuesday that Sen. John McCain's brain tumor, coupled with the timing of the healthcare vote in the Senate, may have played a role in McCain's vote against the bill to repeal provisions of Obamacare.

Embattled news anchor Brian Williams couldn’t bring himself to admit he lied about coming under fire on a chopper in Iraq — so he instead wondered aloud if he had a brain tumor, a new report claims. Several NBC News insiders told Vanity Fair that the fact-challenged Williams — who was suspended without pay for six months from his “Nightly News” gig — had trouble explaining what had happened. “(He said,) ‘Did something happen to (my) head? Maybe I had a brain tumor, or something in my head,’” a source told the magazine in its upcoming piece. “He just didn’t...

Doctors believe that a terminally-ill teenager who has a brain tumour will die within weeks after a judge gave them permission to withhold treatment. The 18-year-old man’s parents wanted chemotherapy to continue and his mother had launched a “passionate” fight “for his life” at a fraught late-night hearing at the Court of Protection in London. She said her son was “absolutely adored” and a “miracle child” and urged judge Mrs Justice Hogg not to rule that he “has to die”.

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- It is an incredible story of a girl with a rare and deadly form of cancer seemingly saved by a shocking experimental treatment at Duke Medical Center. Don't let her easy disposition fool you. She smiles a lot, laughs easily. But doctors will tell you Stephanie Lipscomb should be dead right now. “The odds weren’t good. They didn’t expect me to live more than two years I don’t think.” The University of South Carolina nursing student was just 20, a sorority girl, part time waitress, and all around girl next door when she began having migraines. She...

HILLARY CLINTON has her sights firmly set on the White House, but her super-wealthy political foes are hatching a massive $500 million plot to destroy that dream! In a blockbuster world exclusive, The ENQUIRER has learned that the “dirty tricks” campaign is aimed at wrecking the 2016 presidential campaign of the 66-year-old former first lady. Sources say operatives are digging up details on at least eight Hillary “secrets!” They will also try to use a variety of evidence to rip the covers off Hill­ary’s torrid love affairs with both men and women, according to in­siders “Super-wealthy Anti-Clinton Factions are willing...

In 2011 Legendary Martial Arts fighter Joe Lewis had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor which he had removed, but lost his final match on August 31 passing away at the age of 68.

Maybe there's something about one of the Alameda County Board of Supervisor's five seats that attracts troubled Bay Area politicians. Less than a week after Nadia Lockyer resigned her seat on the board following weeks of scandalous revelations of drug abuse and a sexual affair with a meth adddict, disgraced Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, reportedly inquired about the post. Hayashi, who is termed out of the Legislature after this year, contacted three of the four remaining members of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to gauge their interest in appointing her to fill out Lockyer's term until 2014, the Bay...

Fellow FReepers (sorry in advance for the long post)- This is an update to a thread I posted on 3/31/12, and an urgent request for further prayers for my beautiful wife Nikki. God bless those of you who were able to help by praying for us on that thread! We KNOW that your prayers have helped our family, as I will outline in this update. More help is needed though! On that Saturday morning, while my wife and I, & our 4 children were standing around the kitchen island talking about the upcoming day, she collapsed. I rushed Nikki to...

Former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, serving a 20-year jail sentence in Panama, was hospitalized on Wednesday for what authorities say was a routine check-up though his attorney says he has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. "He will undergo several routine exams," Angel Calderon, head of Panama's jail system told Reuters, adding that Noriega suffered a bout of flu last week. But the former strongman's lawyer said Noriega's health has deteriorated due to poor treatment in jail for flu and fever, and a brain tumor recently detected by his doctors. … The 78-year-old Noriega, once Panama's drug-running military ruler, is...

NEW YORK -- A tumor on former New York Mets Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter's brain "appears to be malignant," according to doctors at Duke University. "Following a thorough examination and assessment of Gary Carter, biopsies were performed (Friday) morning from a tumor located in Mr. Carter's brain," Dr. Allan H. Friedman and Dr. Henry S. Friedman, co-deputy directors of The Preston Robert Tisch Brian Tumor Center at Duke, said in a statement. "The preliminary results are that his tumor appears to be malignant. Once the pathology report is available, which will take several days, we will discuss treatment...