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Brain cancer treatment raises hope for patients by Lynne Langley  Of  The Post and Courier staff  A new brain cancer treatment, given Friday for the first time in this state, directs a high dose of radiation straight to the tumor site without going through healthy brain tissue or requiring weeks of repeat radiation. MUSC patient Jean McKenzie, right, discusses the GilaSite Radiation Therapy System with Drs. Sunil Patel, center, and Joseph Jenrette. Doctors used a new device and a new cancer-fighting compound Friday at MUSC, one of the first 11 hospitals in the country licensed to perform the treatment. “It's throwing a bomb in the middle of a tumor and not hurting the countryside,” said Dr. Joseph Jenrette III. The MUSC radiation oncologist injected liquid radiation into a balloon in Jean W. McKenzie's brain Friday at 8:15 a.m. Two hours later, the 51-year-old Effingham resident was walking around and said the pressure and headache she felt at first had vanished. “I just really hope it works; if not for me, I hope it will do somebody else some good,” she said. The catheter, balloon and remaining radioisotopes will be removed Tuesday, and McKenzie will go home with no limits on her activity. Last December, she had surgery to remove the aggressive tumor, 30 days of standard external radiation, then chemotherapy that left her very weak. The tumor came back, as glioblastomas nearly always do. Doctors had little to offer: More external radiation could destroy healthy brain tissue. “This is a dreadful cancer,” said MUSC neurosurgeon Dr. Sunil Patel. About 90 percent of patients die in six months when the cancer, which sends out tentacles, recurs after surgery and standard radiation, he said. “Her prognosis was not good,” Patel said. Last month Patel removed the new tumor and implanted a balloon, on the end of a catheter, in the cavity. On Friday, Jenrette, who described the treatment as extraordinarily promising, used a syringe to fill the balloon with a new compound of intense liquid radiation. “I'm a lot more optimistic than I was,” McKenzie said two hours later. “I've got three grandchildren on the way, and now I think maybe I will live to see them.” One grandchild is due any day, the other two in about seven months. Doctors don't talk about curing glioblastomas. The  new treatment appears, however, to extend life and improve the quality of life for patients who otherwise may suffer miserable side effects with conventional treatment. So far, Jenrette said, patients have lived on average 400 days after the treatment with the GliaSite Radiation Therapy System, in a clinical trial that led to federal Food and Drug Administration approval of the system April 25. The manufacturer, Proxima Therapeutics, now has 16 sites licensed to use the system, the nearest other sites being in Charlotte and Atlanta, said marketing manager Barry Hassett. The company approached MUSC because it already had the needed broad-based nuclear license, which few hospitals do. About 16,500 Americans will be diagnosed this year with malignant primary brain tumors, and nearly all will regrow after initial treatment. Another 170,000 will develop tumors that started elsewhere but migrated to the brain. The system could also work in patients newly diagnosed with brain tumors, Patel noted, and he hopes MUSC might gain approval to use it that way in about six months. The new radioisotope compound is being considered for breast cancer treatment, Jenrette said, and MUSC might become involved in that testing. Editor's note: The article ran Sept. 22 in the Post and Courier and is reprinted with permission. The catheter, balloon ad remaining radioisotopes were succesfully removed on Tuesday, Sept. 25.