1)    More than 600,000 people in the United States are currently living with a brain tumor—approximately 209 out of every 100,000 people.

2)    Senator Edward Kennedy, composer George Gershwin, film critic Gene Siskel, singer and actress Ethel Merman, Major League Baseball player Gary Carter, and Eleanor Mondale, daughter of former US Vice President Walter Mondale, all died as a result of a brain tumor.

3)    A brain tumor may be classified as benign or malignant. Benign tumors usually grow more slowly and are typically more easily removed. Malignant tumors tend to grow and spread quickly, and are not easily removed. Over time, some benign brain tumors may become malignant.

4)    Each day, approximately 500 people will receive a diagnosis of a primary brain tumor (one which begins in the brain) or a metastatic brain tumor (one which begins elsewhere in the body and spreads to the brain). An estimated 66,290 new cases of primary brain tumors are expected to be diagnosed in 2012.

5)    Primary malignant brain tumors tend to affect more men than women. Benign brain tumors affect more women than men.

6)    Brain tumors are the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in people under the age of 20, the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in males aged 20-30, and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in females aged 20-39.

7)    Approximately 4,200 children younger than age 20 will be diagnosed with primary brain tumors in 2012.

8)    There are more than 120 types of brain tumors.

9)    Meningiomas are the most common primary brain tumor, representing 34% of all primary brain tumors.

10)    Gliomas, a broad term which includes all tumors arising from the gluey or supportive tissue of the brain, represent 30% of all brain tumors and 80% of all malignant tumors. The most common—and most aggressive—type of glioma is glioblastoma multiforme, or GBM.

The Elliott Foundation/Chris Elliott Fund is here to provide patient support, education, and awareness about brain tumors and their treatment.  We provide our services free of charge.  Please contact us at info@chriselliottfund.org or call us at 1-800-574-5703 for more information.

First fully-integrated neurosurgical center of its kind in U.S.

The trend toward integrated care and multi-disciplinary treatment continues to grow in the United States. That’s good news for glioblastoma brain cancer patients. Add Saint Thomas Hospital’s new Unity System to those medical centers that are taking an integrated approach with leading edge technologies such as Brainlab Brainsuite®, VISIUS Surgical Theatre™ by IMRIS with intraoperative MRI and TrueBeam™ STx with Novalis® Radiosurgery – paired with real time collaboration of medical experts to care for patients with brain tumors.

Last year, it was also the first center in the Southeast to begin enrolling patients in a new late-stage clinical trial for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme using a personalized cancer vaccine.

Dr. Paul Rosenblatt, chief of radiation oncology at Saint Thomas Hospital and co-medical director of the Saint Thomas Brain and Spine Tumor Center, said it very well. “While brain tumors impact a small percentage of the population, this disease has a dramatic effect on patients, their well-being and their families. The Unity System will allow us to provide a better quality of life for brain tumor patients and their families – and means a dramatic improvement in their chances to thrive.”

This is what The Elliott Foundation is all about. Our nationally recognized integrated patient support program includes the whole patient — their physical, emotional, and financial needs, and includes their families and caregivers. That approach is proven to extend lives. Be a part of the cure.Donate today!

Do You Know the Symptoms for Brain Cancer?

May is National Brain Cancer Awareness Month and it’s a good time to build awareness about how this disease can strike anyone at any time. In 2008 I worked with the late Senator Ted • Kennedy to advocate Congress to establish a national brain cancer awareness month in the hope of building greater public awareness about this terrible disease and to see more research dollars focused on advance treatment options for patients. Education is key. There is no early detection for brain cancer, so do you know the symptoms?

Common symptoms of brain tumors include:

•New or increasingly severe headaches

•Changes in vision

•Nausea or vomiting

•Abnormal fatigue

•Tremors or seizures

•Speech problems

•Memory loss and personality changes

•Weakness on one side of the body

•Sudden facial paralysis

•Impaired sense of balance and problems with spatial orientation

Here is a real life example of why The Elliott Foundation makes a huge impact on the lives of brain cancer patients, their families, and their caregivers.

My name is Lynne Tran and I wanted to thank you for inviting me to UCSD medical center to meet Dr. Samtosh Kesari the Director of Neuro-Oncology and his staff. Honestly, I was a bit nervous and anxious before the meeting because I had no idea what to expect. I can say that all of that disappeared when I formally meet you, Dellann and The Elliott Foundation.

I was amazed to learn so much about brain cancer in a short time frame. Dr. Kesari has done such amazing work within neuro-oncology that I did not even know existed.

Another thing I learned is that taking part in clinical research can always benefit a patient because an extra set of eyes will watch over you while participating in the clinical research. Not only that, but tumors have been shown to decrease in some of these clinical trials. Now, I am on board to have my brother participate in a trial with Dr. Kesari and his team.

Throughout this past year and a half, it has been hard to find someone who truly cares and is willing to help. My brother was diagnosed with giloblastma multiforme at the age of 19. He had perfect health prior to the cancer. We are so grateful to have found The Elliott Foundation because now my family knows that there are people that care and who are willing to help with vital information and support.

I am urging all of you who read my testimony to go online today at CEF/TEF’s donation page and donate so that this organization can continue ot provide education and awareness to the public and assist with provding direct access to advanced brain tumor treatments nationally.  Thank you for supporting the CEF/TEF so that they can broaden their outreach and continue to assist more and more brain tumor patients and their caregivers.  Thank you for BEING PART OF THE CURE!

Radiation continues to be an effective method for treating glioblastoma brain tumors. Targeted treatments like the Gamma and Cyber Knife are amazing advancement. But the issue remains that radiation must pass through healthy brain tissue to reach the tumor, and patients can only tolerate small amounts before developing serious side effects.

A group of researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have developed a way to deliver nanoparticle radiation directly to the brain tumor and keep it there. The method doses the tumor itself with much higher levels of radiation — 20 to 30 times the current dose of radiation therapy to patients — but spares a much greater area of brain tissue.

The study, published today in the journal Neuro-Oncology (“Rhenium-186 liposomes as convection-enhanced nanoparticle brachytherapy for treatment of glioblastoma”), has been successful enough in laboratory experiments that they’re preparing to start a clinical trial at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center, said Andrew Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., the study’s corresponding author and a neuro-oncologist at the CTRC who will lead the clinical trial.

“We saw that we could deliver much higher doses of radiation in animal models,” Dr. Brenner said. “We were able to give it safely and we were able to completely eradicate tumors.”

Efforts are under way to launch the clinical trial by summer 2012.

Brain cancer waits for no one and new technologies like nano particle radiation must be offered to patients seeking advanced treatment options as quickly and safely as possible. We’ll continue to bring you more news on this new tool.