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Download Date: February 26, 2015
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Date: February 26, 2015 Student name: Gabriella Kinney Teacher's name (if entering as part of a school class): Lisette Nenninger and Erin Raney School name (required from all participants): St. Anne School School address: 101 West Lee St. Seattle, WA 98119 Select one: Western Washington Enter this essay in the English Language Learner (for five years or less of English) category: No Cerebellar Meningioma "I wanted you to remember who I was," my mom told me when I asked her about her brain tumor. In 2005, my mom found out she had a brain tumor called Cerebellar Meningioma growing in her head. This type of Meningioma, which grows in the brain stem, is one of the rarest and most life threatening of all the brain tumors. Cerebellar Meningioma arises from a layer of tissues that cover the brain and spine and feeds off 6 of blood it takes from arteries so it can expand . If patients wait too long to receive treatment, senses such as vision, facial movement, and hearing will be cut off, one by 6 one. Today, the success of research studies and clinical trials for Cerebellar Meningioma will later lead to new and more effective treatments to save the lives of people like my mom. My mom was two months pregnant when she found out she had Cerebellar 2 Meningioma. “I knew something was wrong with my hearing,” she told me. My mom explained to me that most people who get Cerebellar Meningioma are middle aged, 3 pregnant women. The ratio of occurrence from women to men is 3:1. Her doctors told her that because of its location (deep seated), it would be difficult to remove, and if it 2 traveled into her brain stem, she would die. She was told it was unlikely that her face would move after the surgery on her right side, and she could possibly suffer from a stroke. Her surgeon, Dr. Lalligam Sekhar, Chief of Neurosurgery at Harborview and University of Washington, invented new tools that reduced the surgery time from twenty hours to eight. He went into the left side of her head and scraped the tumor out with 2 knifelike tools. The surgery was successful, but my mom had lost hearing in one ear. Many research studies and clinical trials have began to develop to prevent this from happening to other patients. In late 2014, University of Chicago’s Dr. Bakhtiar Yamini, MD used radiation surgery and surgical intervention to cure Cerebellar Meningioma patient Susan Tyra. “For benign tumors less than 3 cm in diameter, we often do radiosurgery – a onetime, focused radiation dose to the tumor,” Yamini said. “But for larger ones, such as the 1 meningioma in Susan’s brain, surgical intervention is usually the best option.” Susan’s surgery went well, but removing the entire tumor could have resulted in risks of life changing symptoms, such as deafness and eyesight. If Dr. Yamini accidentally tapped a part of Susan’s brain that wasn’t the tumor, she could have suffered from a stroke or death. Instead of risking this, a small part of the tumor tissue was left in place. The 1 remainder was killed using radiation therapy. This is similar to what was done for my mom in her surgery. This technique increased the survival chance for Susan, my mom and many other patients. In early 2015 at University of British Columbia, Dr. Priscilla Brastianos began studying certain genes that may cause Cerebellar Meningioma. She has defined the 5 genomic landscapes of meningiomas. Her discovery of clinically actionable genes in 5 meningiomas have the potential to alter how meningiomas are treated. This means if Dr. Brastianos’ studies results show that a certain gene is the base of growing tumors, treatments for Cerebellar Meningiomas will greatly change and will become more effective. This may include surgical experts taking out the “bad gene” and replacing it with a good one. Results of Dr. Brastianos’ studies will save thousands of patients’ lives, as well as many of their senses. This could have helped my mom recognize her diagnosis sooner and would have saved her deaf ear. Another biomedical procedure that could help patients like my mom is embolization. Researchers and brain surgeons at Michigan Head and Spine Institute have been experimenting with embolization. Embolization is procedure in which a thin 4 tube is threaded up the veins in the leg, into the blood vessels that feed the tumor. A 4 gluelike clotting substance is then injected to shrink and cut off the tumor. This process would be used to reduce the blood supply to the tumor; the blood flow to the tumor would stop, cutting off the nutrients and oxygen that feed the tumor. Embolization could save many senses of patients with Cerebellar Meningioma; it will cut off the blood supply to the tumor before it grows and steals the blood from the human senses, killing them. Embolization can stop the tumor before it destroys the patients’ lives. In conclusion, research studies and clinical trials has greatly changed surgery and treatment for people with Cerebellar Meningioma. New and more effective surgical tools have been invented, surgery time has been reduced, genetic discoveries, radiation techniques, and embolization procedures on the brain tumor have recently been invented. My family is thankful everyday for the tools and doctors that saved my mom’s life; I can’t imagine where I’d be now without her. My hope for the future is for more surgical technology to be created so patient’s lives won’t change for the worse, and their senses won’t be lost. Reflection Paragraph I chose this topic because of how it changed my mom's life. When I first asked her about her brain tumor, she told me how rare it is. She explained to me how lucky she is to be alive. After her description of cerebellar meningioma, I took interest in the brain tumor. I wanted to know its effects on other patients, how and why it starts, and research studies and clinical studies today that could of saved my mom's deaf ear ten years ago. My mom never really talked to me about cerebellar meningioma before I began writing this paper; she thought it would be too much for me to take in. Now, I have taken such a high interest in this type of brain tumor, I have filled my brain with lots of treatments, the causes, symptoms, clinical trials, and research studies for cerebellar meningioma and meningiomas in general. My hope for the future is that all the patients who will be diagnosed with this brain tumor will carry on with their lives after their treatment, with all of the senses they were born with, as if nothing had happened. Works Cited 1 "Experienced Neurosurgeon Removes Challenging Brain Stem Meningioma." The University of Chicago Medicine . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2015. 2 Kinney, Chari. Personal Interview. 29 January 2015. 3 "Meningioma." : Surgery, Treatment & Symptoms . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2015. 4 "Michigan Head & Spine Institute Michigan Head & Spine Institute." Michigan Head & Spine Institute Michigan Head & Spine Institute . N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2015. 5 "Priscilla Brastianos, MD." Priscilla Brastianos, MD . N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2015. 6 "UCLA Neurosurgery." Meningioma Brain Tumor: Conditions . N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2015.
