Diagnosis: Malignant Brain Tumor

By Karen McNew
WSLS10 Anchor
Published: May 20, 2008

I talked with one of our health experts, Doctor Bill Fintel with Blue Ridge Cancer Care.  He tells me biopsy results allow doctors to determine if it is a fast or slow growing tumor.

I also asked him about the tumor in the brain.

He explains why the parietal lobe is a critical area, “The parietal lobe on the left side is up above the ear.  It’s a critical part of the brain and it depends on if you are left handed or right handed...speech and the ability to move your hands and arms… so it is an important part of the brain the fact that he presented with a seizure I would hope would mean it is small.”

Of course only Senator Kennedy’s doctors can determine that, but Dr. Fintel says sometimes doctors will leave a slow growing tumor alone.  He says it is possible to do more harm than good sometimes with a slow growing tumor.  If it is a fast growing tumor he says, chemotherapy and radiation are standard.

He says, the treatment for should be done at a Brain Cancer Center.

Carilion Clinic has a team of neurosurgeons who specialize in the treatment of brain cancer with very direct beams of radiation from a machine called a Cyberknife.

Link to more information about Brain Tumors from the American Cancer Society.