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Had Surgery For Oligodendroglioma. Now Recovered. Will This Come Back After Few Years? Prognosis?

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Posted on Sun, 23 Jun 2013
Question: My friend who is 27 had a surgery. The oligodendroglioma (stage 2) size of an egg was removed from his brain several months ago, and he is fully recovered now. But I heard similar tumors come back in 7-13 years, and these people don't live longer than 50.
Is it true? What's your prognosis about tumors comeback and my friends life expectancy?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Shoaib Khan (54 minutes later)
Hello and welcome to XXXXXXX

Thank you for writing to us.

I am very sorry your friend had to experience this, and I respect your concern for your friend and shall try my best to provide as much information as you need to understand his condition best, and what to expect.

The first point is that a stage 2 oligodendroglioma is considered a low grade oligodendroglioma (LGO), and so the prognosis would be a little better than the grade 3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma's.

From the recent surveys conducted the median survival calculated from initial diagnosis of all low-grade oligodendroglioma's (LGOs) is 4-10 years. But, this is the median and there are many factors noted by International Cancer societies that need to be taken into consideration, let me also list these for you:
-Age of patient at time of diagnosis (older patients have a worse prognosis)
-Location and extent of surgical resection (whether the location of the tumor was in a comparatively less important area, and whether the entire tumor was successfully removed, or some part could not be removed due to possible complications)
-Post-operative performance (which from your query, is good for your friend)
-Laboratory report on the tumor (i.e. histologic features; whether this is an advanced and rapidly reproducing tumor or not a very active one)
-Use of adjuvant therapy (the use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy; this is an important point as most tumors will respond to chemotherapy very well, with the most experience being with PCV (procarbazine, CCNU, and vincristine); however, temozolomide should be considered as it has shown to have the best results; this improves the prognosis and prolongs life)
-Seizures present as an early symptoms (is a sign of poor prognosis)

Yes, it is true that these tumors very commonly come back, but the average age of 50 years, is not very accurate. This depends on when the tumor was first diagnosed. Some can live longer than this, but some live lesser than this.

It is difficult to predict your friend's chances of a recurrence, as he does seem to have recovered well, so I would add at least 10 years to his life, but due to common recurrences, I am unsure about the chances of the tumor coming back or not, and when, in your friend.

I hope I have succeeded in providing the information you were looking for. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications at: WWW.WWWW.WW . I would gladly help you. God less your friend with a recurrence free and long life.

Best wishes.
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad
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Answered by
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Dr. Shoaib Khan

General & Family Physician

Practicing since :2009

Answered : 9409 Questions

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Had Surgery For Oligodendroglioma. Now Recovered. Will This Come Back After Few Years? Prognosis?

Hello and welcome to XXXXXXX

Thank you for writing to us.

I am very sorry your friend had to experience this, and I respect your concern for your friend and shall try my best to provide as much information as you need to understand his condition best, and what to expect.

The first point is that a stage 2 oligodendroglioma is considered a low grade oligodendroglioma (LGO), and so the prognosis would be a little better than the grade 3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma's.

From the recent surveys conducted the median survival calculated from initial diagnosis of all low-grade oligodendroglioma's (LGOs) is 4-10 years. But, this is the median and there are many factors noted by International Cancer societies that need to be taken into consideration, let me also list these for you:
-Age of patient at time of diagnosis (older patients have a worse prognosis)
-Location and extent of surgical resection (whether the location of the tumor was in a comparatively less important area, and whether the entire tumor was successfully removed, or some part could not be removed due to possible complications)
-Post-operative performance (which from your query, is good for your friend)
-Laboratory report on the tumor (i.e. histologic features; whether this is an advanced and rapidly reproducing tumor or not a very active one)
-Use of adjuvant therapy (the use of chemotherapy and radiotherapy; this is an important point as most tumors will respond to chemotherapy very well, with the most experience being with PCV (procarbazine, CCNU, and vincristine); however, temozolomide should be considered as it has shown to have the best results; this improves the prognosis and prolongs life)
-Seizures present as an early symptoms (is a sign of poor prognosis)

Yes, it is true that these tumors very commonly come back, but the average age of 50 years, is not very accurate. This depends on when the tumor was first diagnosed. Some can live longer than this, but some live lesser than this.

It is difficult to predict your friend's chances of a recurrence, as he does seem to have recovered well, so I would add at least 10 years to his life, but due to common recurrences, I am unsure about the chances of the tumor coming back or not, and when, in your friend.

I hope I have succeeded in providing the information you were looking for. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications at: WWW.WWWW.WW . I would gladly help you. God less your friend with a recurrence free and long life.

Best wishes.