Questons to Ask About Treatment

You need to understand the goals, potentials risks and benefits of each of your brain cancer treatment options. Only by considering the likely outcomes of each option can you make informed decisions based on your personal goals, values and preferences.

Consider posing these questions about brain cancer treatment options to your physician:

• What is the brain tumor treatment goal and will it cure my brain tumor or spinal cord tumor, slow the progression of my disease, prevent a recurrence and/or relieve neurological symptoms?
• Discuss your goals with your doctor. Two patients with the same type and grade of ependymoma and the same prognosis might have different brain cancer treatment goals. One may prefer to take greater risks to cure the brain tumor, even if the odds of a cure are small. The other might opt for taking fewer risks with the goal of stabilizing rather than curing. Physicians also differ in their risk-taking preferences, so make sure you and your doctors agree on brain cancer treatment goals.
• What are the benefits?
• Ask your doctor to share statistics for rate of cure, progression-free survival, rate of remission, disease-free survival and overall survival under each brain cancer treatment option.
• What are the short-term risks, potential for side effects or complications and likelihood of fatality from the brain cancer treatment?
• What are the long-term risks?
• There may be a risk of developing a second cancer or developing a serious medical problem such as heart, lung or kidney disease.
• How will the treatment affect my lifestyle including work and family responsibilities?
• How much time and travel will be involved? Where is the best place to receive my brain cancer treatment, how long will it last and will I travel long distances?
• What future brain tumor treatment options could be affected?
• After certain brain cancer treatments, other therapies may no longer be options, have a lower success rate or carry greater risks.
• What are the benefits and risks of not having the specified brain cancer treatment?

If you would like additional guidance about what questions to ask your medical team before beginning treatment, contact us. Additional you can log in to our message boards and connect with other patients, caregivers and medical providers.