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i HAD A BRAIN TUMOR REMOVED IN JANUARY OF 2009, CAN i STILL HAVE CHILDREN ?
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I would love to hear how you are getting on. I am also a GBM survivor. 3 years now. I was pregnant at the time of diagnosis and told to terminate in order to receive treatment. I'm now desperate for a child. I'll be treatment free for two years soon and wondering whether it's safe to try. I know that every case is different but I'd love to know how you're doing.
November 14, 2015 - 5:37amThis Comment
Hello Diane,
January 14, 2015 - 8:20pmBtw this site is very imformimg. My name is Jessie, I'm 33 yrs old. I had a craniotomy in 2013 gotten diagnosed with grade II oligoastrocytoma in May 2013 and had a craniotomy again in dec 2014 . I was scheduled to start radiation and chemotherapy in Jan 2015. But I found out I am pregnant so my doctor won't start treatment till after delivery. I am estimated 4 weeks . I've search for information with no success, I did read where it was possible to do radiation in some cases. Do you know the risks and probability of me having complications during pregnancy and delivery
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ok DO NOT get preggo if you have or had a bt.... after my first surgery all was ok ran a marathon blahblah blah well the 5% they had to leave or i would have deficits mine was right in the motor/ sensory strip in my right parietal lobe well we decided to get preggo 1 more time all docs said it would be ok dont stop living becuz of this tumor sooo we did get preggo another time and have a now beautiful 5 yr old girl but i do have deficits in the left side now not working well need a brace to walk and cannot hold things in my left hand anyway when it grew back hormones went wild on the 5% left oh i had an oligo grade II turned into a grade III oligo not good since then i found a new neurologist received the correct treatment chemo rads and avastin AKA wonder drug avastin cuts off the blood supply to the tumor very costly but insurance covered for all of it ten thousand per tx sheeeeit ok good luck my fellow bt friends tina
August 23, 2012 - 12:07amThis Comment
Hi, I'll tell you my story so far and i'd like help and guidance on if it is safe for me to have a baby for the first time.
September 2, 2011 - 2:41amI'm 32 now and 4 years ago i was diagnosed with a low grade 2 glioma in my frontal lobe and following a craniotomy in 2007, 2 weeks later i caught an infection in my frontal lobe bone and it haemoraged causing an abcess. I was rushed into hospital and they removed the frontal obe bone and the infection and i almost dies but im still here. My titanium plate was fitted 6 months later in 2007 and i started to re-build my life. Since 2007 i still had frequent 6 monthly seizures (grand mals) and in May 2011 this year they diagnosed the same tumour, in the same place IT HAD GROWN BACK. I was devastated and still am. They removed the tumour 99% of it 7 weeks ago and i'm back to square one.
Fatigue, tiredness, headaches, rubbish sleep pattern, lack of concentration, forgetfulness and in general my body is slow.
Me and my boyfriend we're trying for a baby when i was diagnosed this year and still want to try for a baby but not sure when it will be safe to try. I am currently taking 750mg keppa per day, 40mg citalopram and 30/500 co-codamol or ibruprofen for pain when headaches creep in.
Any help will be appreciated.
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Hi Dr Diane...I have a question...in 2000 I was diagnosed with an Anaplastic Ependymoma stage3...all the while having it, I had gotten Pregnant and Delivered a healthy baby girl in 1994 ( didn't know about the BT at the Time)...I had a cranny full resection...31 Radiation treatments...then in 2009 I was Dignosed with a Meningioma...again a cranny...then this past December I was Dignosed with my 3rd BT another Meningioma..this one is in a tricky place making it inoperable...I received Cyberknife in January...MRI in April so far so good go back in October...I ovulate and get regular periods etc...my question is about Pregnancy? Should I count it out or do I have options? Thanks so Much!
July 2, 2011 - 8:48pmThis Comment
I had a Pineal Tumor removed in 1986.I already had two children at the time 5 and 3. I became pregnant with my 3rd child in 1988. The only concerns at the time were ,
Could all the MRI's i had affect a child( had one while i was pregnant..didnt know i was pregnant) .When I had my first MRI in 1985 MRI's were still considered experimental..our insurance wouldnt pay for it. I have hundreds of them now..lol.
My Gyn was concerned how my VP Shunt could affect the pregnancy ..mainly delivery...and since back then they didnt replace the piece of skull they took out...how the strain of delivery would effect either of those. Before he agreed to deliver her ( he had delivered my other two children) he wanted the ok from my neurosurgeon that i wouldnt be considered high risk.
She was born naturally :) no problems...is 21 and just joined the Air Force.
Good luck everyone,
May 24, 2010 - 7:55amLauren
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Lauren,
May 27, 2010 - 8:00amWhat a wonderful post! It will mean so much to any woman reading this thread who is dealing with a brain tumor. It's also wonderful to hear that she's 21 and that you're still here and fine!!! Thank you so much for writing!
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I had a grade II oligodendroglioma, which was surgically removed 2 years ago. They were able to remove it 100% and I had no chemo or radiation treatment. I've had clear scans since then and I was given the green light to get pregnant by my doctors. I just found out that I am 6 weeks pregnant. I am very excited, but still very cautious about my health. I have found very little information on brain tumors and pregnancy and I'm not sure if there are questions I should be discussing with my doctors, especially my OB-GYN. Have you heard of any correlation between hormone levels and tumor recurrence? What risks does an MRI pose to my baby? I feel like I could possibly be missing an important topic to discuss with the doctors. Any suggestions?
May 2, 2010 - 5:25pmThis Comment
JC3408,
Wow! Congratulations on your pregnancy!!! That is such wonderful news for you.
You are smart to wonder what about your past medical conditions you need to keep in the forefront as you carry this pregnancy.
Here is a page on MRI during pregnancy from the University of California at San Francisco's Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging:
http://www.radiology.ucsf.edu/patients/gad_preg
I gave you the page first because it footnotes several medical studies, and you might want to print it out and ask your doctor if a MRI is needed during your pregnancy. In general, it says that while most studies of MRI during pregnancy show no ill effects, there are two concerns for the fetus. They are (1) the possibility teratogenic effects, which are defined as negative effects on the fetal development, and (2) the possibility of hearing damage because the MRI is so loud. In general, they recommend avoiding MRI during pregnancy, particularly during the first trimester, but they say it is still preferable to any studies using ionizing radiation.
And here is what radiology.org says:
"If you are pregnant or suspect you are pregnant, you should inform the MRI technologist and/or radiologist during the screening procedure before the MRI examination. In general, there is no known risk of using MRI in pregnant patients. However, MRI is reserved for use in pregnant patients only to address very important problems or suspected abnormalities. In any case, MRI is safer for the fetus than imaging with x-rays or CT."
Does that help with that part of the question?
Here's what cancer.net, the website of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, says about pregnancy after cancer:
"As more young people are surviving cancer, more women are considering whether they should have a baby after having cancer. In general, pregnancy after cancer is considered safe for both the mother and the baby, and pregnancy does not appear to increase the chances of cancer recurring (coming back). However, since some cancers do recur, women are usually advised to wait a number of years after completing cancer treatment until the risk of recurrence has decreased. The amount of time you will be advised to wait before becoming pregnant depends on the type and stage of cancer and course of treatment."
Here's that page:
http://www.cancer.net/patient/Coping/Emotional+and+Physical+Matters/Sexual+and+Reproductive+Health/Pregnancy+and+Cancer
This is a 2009 study of just 12 pregnancies in 11 adult women published in the Annals of Neurology who had grade II gliomas before they were pregnant (meaning, as I interpret it, that their doctors were treating the gliomas as the pregnancy progressed). In those cases, they did feel that pregnancy increased tumor growth. But as you have had clear scans for two years, this should be of only minimal concern to you. And it was quite a small study (To get the full text you need to go here and then click on either PDF or HTML and then purchase it):
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/122638139/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
There are so many different kinds of brain tumors that I understand why your research was difficult. But nowhere in the pages I read did I find research that stated that the hormones of pregnancy could encourage or hasten a recurrence. Have you asked your former oncologist about this?
May 4, 2010 - 8:38amThis Comment
Thank you Diane,
May 4, 2010 - 7:11pmThose links had a wealth are information. These will definitely help me start a productive dialogue with my doctors. I'm only in the position I am today because of my doctors. All of them from my family doctor to my neurosurgeon were very aggressive in my treatments. Early intervention, whether surgical, chemotherapy, or radiation is the key to a positive recovery. I have discussed this with my oncologist and she did say that there were no (official) studies done in regards to recurrence and changing hormone levels. Thank you again for the quick, and helpful response. I'll try to keep you updated over the next nine months.
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