Medical A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat
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August 2017
Credit: DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Dustin Payne, U.S. Air Force
Tough Opponent Senator McCain Faces Aggressive Brain Cancer Foe in Glioblastoma •
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) speaks to a group of soldiers before re-enlisting them during an Independence Day celebration in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 4, 2013. The longtime senator was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma.
by Dennis Thompson
The median survival for glioblastoma patients is about 15 months, oncologists say
S
en. John McCain (R-Ariz.) faces an uphill battle fighting the aggressive cancer discovered in his brain last month, experts say. The cancer, glioblastoma, is the most common malignant tumor that originates in brain cells, as opposed to cancers that spread to the brain from elsewhere in the body, said Dr. Manmeet Ahluwalia, dean of the Cleveland Clinic’s Rose Ella Burkhardt Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center.
But it’s a very tough cancer to treat. Glioblastoma is difficult to surgically remove, resists attempts to kill it with radiation and chemotherapy, and nearly always comes back, cancer experts said. “The tumor many times responds to treatment initially but it tends to grow back,” said Dr. Kurt Jaeckle, a neuro-oncologist and co-director of the Gerald J. Glasser Brain Tumor Center at Overlook Medical Center’s Atlantic Neuroscience Institute in New Jersey. “It’s not unusual to have to treat it again.” It’s the same type of cancer that killed Sen. Ted Kennedy at age 77 in 2009. McCain, 80, underwent a procedure on July 14 to remove a blood clot from his brain just above his left
eye. The following Wednesday, his office reported that the blood clot was associated with glioblastoma. Until last year there was no medical evidence that people older than 70 benefited from the standard treatment for glioblastoma, said Dr. J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. But a study presented in June 2016 at the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s (ASCO) annual meeting was the first to show that people over 70 in otherwise good health could benefit from aggressive treatment, Lichtenfeld said. See C an cer • page 28 THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT | august 2017 | 27