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YOUR HEALTH: A cancer treating helmet for kids

A tumor treating device approved for use in adults is being tested in kids and teens

HACKENSACK, N.J. — About 13,000 Americans will be diagnosed with glioblastoma this year.

Sadly, 10,000 will die. 

Now, neuro-oncologists are testing a tumor treating helmet-like device in pediatric patients.

Ivan Galeano was among the first.

He was with his mother when the normally healthy teen felt his left pinky go numb.

"And then from there it started spreading to the hand and into the arm."

His mother was worried right away.

"I thought at first this is like a heart attack," VicMarie Del Valle remembered.

"He thought it was a heart attack. So, he started screaming." 

Ivan was rushed to a nearby hospital. 

Doctors determined it wasn't a heart attack. 

It was a seizure. 

Then the MRI found something else.

"It was like a shadow on the right side of my brain," said Ivan.

Doctors diagnosed Ivan with glioblastoma, or GBM, aggressive brain cancer.

"Now we're facing this monster and we're going to do whatever it takes to get rid of it," his mom said at the time.

But GBM treatment is tricky.

"There's always tumor cells left behind with glioblastoma," explained Dr. Derek Hanson of Hackensack Meridian Children's Hospital.

"And that's what makes it particularly challenging is that even when we remove the entire tumor, we know it's still not all out."

That's why Dr. Hanson wanted to try a treatment that is showing promise in adults, but not yet approved for use in kids. 

A special device called Optune, worn on the head, with four leads attached to the scalp.

"And these four leads send electric signals called tumor treating fields into the brain directed at the tumor," he said.

Patients don't feel the signals, which disrupt the cancer cell growth.

They wear the two-pound cap for 18 hours a day, even while they sleep.

That's okay with Ivan.

"I'll just deal with whatever I have to do."

The Optune system is available at Quad Cities Radiation Oncologists at both Genesis Cancer Care Institute and UnityPoint-Trinity Cancer Center, the University of Iowa, Northern Illinois Cancer Treatment Center in Dixon, and the Illinois Cancer Center in Peoria.

So far, the experimental treatment is working.

"So they have been no recurrence since Ivan had surgery," said VicMarie.

Researchers are evaluating the Optune device, along with chemotherapy for pediatric treatment. 

Dr. Hanson said the researchers are in discussions to expand the trial to a phase two, which would involve additional childrens' hospitals.

Testing immunotherapy for glioblastoma

Researchers are also studying a new immunotherapy treatment to slow or stop the spread of cancer cells in people with glioblastoma and gliosarcoma and improve outcomes. 

The clinical trial is testing if immune checkpoint inhibitors given with standard treatment results in an immune response in the blood and if that results in better outcomes than in people who do not get a response. 

Checkpoints are made by immune system cells, such as T cells, and some cancer cells, and can keep immune responses from being too strong and T cells from killing cancer cells. 

By blocking checkpoints, T cells can better kill cancer cells. 

"The primary goal of our new immune monitoring study is to determine whether the response in the blood is associated with a response in the brain tumor," explained Dr. Mark Gilbert, chief and senior investigator at NCI's Center for Cancer Research, Neuro-Oncology Branch.

"This would suggest that there is benefit to getting an immune checkpoint inhibitor."

If this story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Jim Mertens at jim.mertens@wqad.com or Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com.

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