The latest news:

• Uninsured brain cancer patients may be more likely than insured to die after surgery to remove tumor        They also found that medicaid patients do as well as patients with private insurance. Uninsured patients are twice as likely to die in the hospital.  They did not figure out why - but that has to be looked at.
  



• Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Successfully Completes Phase I Brain Cancer Trial        They are testing a new treatment for GBMs: trans sodium crocetinate . This drug increases the oxygenation of the tumor and is thought that it may sensitize the tumor to radiation and chemotherapy. It worked well in the lab. They tried it on a small group of GBM patients to test for safety and apparently it is safe enough to go ahead to a larger trial to see if it works.
  



• Trabectedin has promising antineoplastic activity in high-grade meningioma.         Way too early - and had significant side effects in the 1 person they tried it on, but may be an option for people with high grade meningioma who run out of other options.  It is available off label now under the brand name Yondelis