How will taking an aggressive approach to treatment affect my quality of life, since I might not survive?
We are convinced that the main threat to quality of life in patients with central nervous system tumors is the tumor itself, seldom the treatment. If the tumor grows, it is certain to cause major functional changes such as changes in speech, thinking and memory, and movement. Therefore, treatment, if successful in controlling the growth of the tumor, even if it has side effects, is more likely to preserve or improve quality of life than to degrade it. Of course, there are some patients who tolerate treatment poorly. In these cases, rather than continuing with intolerable side effects, we modify the treatment until it is tolerable.
