As recently as ten years ago, patients with brain metastasis were rarely even offered surgical treatment. “It was essentially viewed as a death sentence,” Fecci says. But as treatments have improved, these patients have options. “Some of my patients from when I first arrived at Duke two and a half years ago are still doing well,” Fecci says. “A decade ago, that type of survival was just a dream.”
Fecci saw a need for better-coordinated care for these patients. So he started the Duke Brain Metastasis Program, which involves doctors from neurosurgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, and neuro-oncology.
“Brain metastasis is the kind of problem that requires four or five different specialists to come together,” Fecci says. “These are patients that in a way have been cast aside for a long time, and we’d like to make them a focus instead.” The program will also offer clinical trials of new therapies especially for these patients.
Read entire article on the Duke Cancer Institute Blog