From Radiopaedia.org:

Ganglioglioma

Figure above: cerebellar ganglioglioma. Cross section through the cerebellum.                 Top right of image is the tumor with some involvement on the opposite side.

Gangliogliomas are uncommon low grade (WHO Grade I or II) CNS tumors. They are, however,  the most frequent of the neuronal-glial CNS neoplasms.  Epilepsy seizure activity,  is a common clinical presentation  since this tumor has a typical occurrence in    the temporal lobes, although they have been described in all parts of the central nervous system.

Epidemiology

Children and young patients are usually affected, and no gender predominance is     recognized. It accounts for around 2% …of all primary intracranial tumors, and up             to 10% of primary cerebral tumors in children.

Clinical presentation

The most common presentation is with temporal lobe epilepsy, presumably due to           the temporal lobes being a favored location.

Pathology

Gangliogliomas are composed of two cell populations:

1. ganglion cells (large mature neuronal elements): ganglio-

2. neoplastic glial elements (primarily astrocytic): -glioma

It is the grade of the glial component that determines biological behavior. Dedifferentiation into high grade tumors does occasionally occur, and it is usually           the glial component (into a glioblastoma multiform or GBM). Only rarely is it the   neuronal component (into a neuroblastoma).

They are closely related to gangliocytomas,  which contain essentially only mature      neural ganglion cells, and ganglioneurocytoma which in addition have small mature neoplastic neurons.

                                                     Image of a ganglioglioma (white region).

The above image shows how large these tumors can become.                                         Literally crowding out other brain structures in this case.                                                      Tumor is at 11 o’clock.

Treatment and prognosis

SURGERY IS PREFERRED METHOD

The very best solution for cure is surgery if at all possible. Local resection is the treatment of choice and determines prognosis. In the brain where a reasonable resection margin can be achieved, prognosis is good with at least an 80% five-year survival. In the spinal cord where this is not possible without devastating deficits local recurrence is very common.

If only incomplete resection is achievable, or tumor recurrence occurs then radiotherapy may be of some benefit but will not cure it.

Although considered a low-grade malignancy this tumor is anything but benign.                 It can continue to grow and obliterate brain structures and eventually cause death.

Most importantly is the ability of the surgeon to remove as much tumor as possible            to prevent recurrence. In the brain that occasionally can be done.

HER FIRST SEIZURE LEADS TO CRANIOTOMY 2006

Case continued: When Taylor was only six years old on All Hallows Eve, she suddenly    and quite unexpectedly lost consciousness and fell out of her chair. From there she fell  into a deep sleep for the rest of the evening. By the following morning …. Taylor began vomiting and had her first seizure.

Subsequently her doctors found a brain tumor of unknown type the size of a golf ball.

She was scheduled for surgery (2006) which went well. WELL At least technically. The        surgery did affect her brain causing her to slow down in certain areas such as learning   new concepts. And her peers never let her forget it by referring to her as “tumor girl,” stupid and retarded were terms commonly thrown about.

HER SECOND CRANIOTOMY 2010

Finally, after her brain was allowed to recover she gradually could feel everything getting back to normal. Of course, that’s when the tumor returned as well. That was October, 2010. She had her second brain surgery in October which appeared to have gone well.

THIRD RECURRENCE OF TUMOR, NO SURGICAL INDICATION 2011

Then quite unexpectedly the tumor again resurfaced in 2011 with more novel and aggressive tumor features.

Mom:

…it was larger and more intertwined with her brain tissue than before. Between November and April, it doubled in size. Surgery was no longer an option because too much of her brain would have to be removed.

Taylor:

It was really upsetting. I kind of broke down when they told me the news. It’s hard to  think about going through all of that again, but compared to some kids, I have it easy…

FIRST TO RECEIVE PROTON RADIATION THERAPY 2012

At this point she was ready to give in. No more surgery, no more radiation. She made a deal to receive a new form of treatment called proton beam therapy. In September 2012 she was scheduled for proton therapy.

Taylor, 13, also is a pioneer. Earlier this summer, she became Roberts’ first patient with     a ganglioglioma — a rare form of brain tumor — to undergo proton beam therapy. The procedure shoots a precise beam of protons at cancer cells, sparing surrounding tissue from the lethal effects of X-ray radiation.

The 10-week regimen of weekly treatment inside the “gantry” — the sealed tunnel where the powerful rays worked away at her tumor — were hard to endure. But Taylor, her family and doctors believe it may be the only way to finally beat a tumor in her left temporal lobe when it appeared a third time.

Taylor relates how the painful wire mask on her face, needed to keep her immobile,        was cutting into her face. This mask is bolted to the table prior to initiating the proton   gun. She will need to endure a ten-week trial of proton therapy. Then after that, months later, they would evaluate Taylor and see if it was successful.

Targeting the tumor: Winlock teen becomes pioneer in painful proton treatment

• By Natalie St. John / The Daily News

           

Taylor models the custom-made mesh mask that held her head still as a proton beam attacked her brain tumor.

There were hours when Taylor Rehmeyer couldn’t move. She lay on her back, pinned         to a hospital table in the Roberts Proton Therapy Center in Philadelphia.

A plastic mesh face mask immobilized her head and dug into her flesh as she waited to receive an emerging high-tech cancer treatment that would target the tumor in her brain.

Whether it worked won’t be known for months. But what Taylor and her mother               do  know is that the cutting-edge treatment provides her the best hope for recovery.

Staff members gave her pain medication and did their best to keep her spirits up, sometimes to little effect.

“It was physically painful. The mask would literally push my face down,”                             the Winlock middle-schooler said last week.

Her neck and head ached under the pressure of the mask, which was bolted to the table. She grew restless as the beam slowly burned exposed skin over her ear, where her hair had fallen out.

“She came out looking like net woman,” said her mother, Karen Owen.

Taylor, 13, also is a pioneer. Earlier this summer, she became Roberts’ first patient with     a ganglioglioma — a rare form of brain tumor — to undergo proton beam therapy. The procedure shoots a precise beam of protons at cancer cells, sparing surrounding tissue from the lethal effects of X-ray radiation.

The 10-week regimen of weekly treatment inside the “gantry” — the sealed tunnel where the powerful rays worked away at her tumor — were hard to endure. But Taylor, her family and doctors believe it may be the only way to finally beat a tumor in her left temporal lobe when it appeared a third time.

Symptoms suddenly emerge

During Halloween 2005, when she was 6, Taylor suddenly fell out of a rocking chair. She fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, she began vomiting and started having seizures. The seizures became more frequent. She began sleeping erratically, fidgeting and making odd noises. A scan found an unidentified mass in her brain.

Within a few weeks, the diagnosis arrived: Taylor had brain cancer. Surgery to remove the tumor was scheduled.

“We were all really freaked out by all this. Was her brain frying while all this was going on? We don’t know,” Owen recalled.

The “resection” surgery removed a tumor the size of a golf ball along with some surrounding brain tissue. When she woke from the operation screaming, her family was glad she could still walk, talk and see.  But before long, they realized she would never be the same again.

“I had this feeling like they were going to cut her head open, and everything that she was, was going to pour out of it.  And that’s kind of how it was. …. This child looks like Taylor. She walks like Taylor. She talks like Taylor. However,  this is not the child that went into surgery,” Owen said.

Taylor looks and acts like a typical kid. She loves art – music. She plays basketball. But words slip out of her grasp, new concepts are hard to retain and reading is hard work. After her surgery in 2006, her peers made fun of her.

“They called me ‘Tumor Girl.’ They just teased me, calling me ‘stupid, ‘retarded’.         Really mean words,” Taylor recalled.

In 2010, just as life felt like it was finally returning to normal, the tumor returned.     Taylor had a second surgery in October 2010.

“That’s when I really started to panic, wondering, ‘Was she was ever going to get             past this?'” her mom said.

‘I’m just going to die’

When the tumor reappeared for the 3rd third time in 2011, it was larger  more intertwined with her brain tissue than before. Between November and April, it doubled in size. Surgery was no longer an option because too much of her brain would have to be removed.

“It was really upsetting. I kind of broke down when they told me the news. It’s hard to think about going through all of that again, but compared to some kids, I have it easy,” Taylor said.

A way to limit the damage.

Unlike X-ray radiation, proton beams don’t spread to surrounding tissue. Because their impact can be more easily limited, they can be an ideal treatment for growing children, who often become susceptible to secondary cancers or deformities when treated with  other forms of radiation, according to the National Association for Proton Therapy.

In June, the center’s staff began by making Taylor a plastic mask that would immobilize her head while she underwent treatment — a vital step in ensuring that the intense rays would target her tumor and as little else as possible.

“They took me into a CT scan room, and they laid me down on a table and soaked this piece of plastic paper,” Taylor recalled, describing a piece of white mesh that became flexible in water. The doctors stretched the mesh over her head, molding it to her face.

“To be honest, it felt like a wet pancake being stretched over your face,” Taylor said.

The weeks in Philadelphia felt “like a vacation where you do something very serious,” Owens said. Between treatments, they tried to visit family and sight-see, but Taylor was often too sick to do much.

“There were times when she just threw herself across the bed and said, ‘Mommy, please just take me home!’ She missed everybody,” Owen said.

Encouragement from the warm, caring staff helped Taylor stick it out. A therapist who Taylor nicknamed “Little Man” “always made me laugh and giggle and stuff,” Taylor said. “He practically made it fun for me.”

Back home

After returning to Winlock  just in time for the new school year,  Taylor and Owen,          who runs a business selling clothing on eBay, focused on readjusting to everyday life.

For Owen, the return to Winlock feels a bit surreal.

“I almost felt like like I’ve jumped out of one life and into another one again,” Owen said.

Taylor is attending school part time, but the after-effects of radiation have left her “with     a general feeling of ‘ick'” so overwhelming that she sometimes sleeps 20 hours in a day. Her brain is still recovering, so many of the physical activities she loves remain off limits. And her future is uncertain.

They won’t know for sure whether the PBT worked until February, when they will return  to Philadelphia for Taylor’s six-month brain-scan.  For Owen,  the months between now and then are filled with “scanxiety,” but for Taylor, being able to focus on school, friends, errands and homework is a relief.

“I couldn’t ask for more. Just to be a kid again and not have to worry about this,” she said.

 HIGH TECH PROTON THERAPY FAILURE

The high-tech treatments worked — for awhile (sic). Taylor’s tumor shrunk after initial radiation sessions but started growing again last August.

That’s when Owen, determined to heal her daughter, turned to marijuana oil therapy.

Taylor’s mother Owen made that decision after hours of research on the tumor shrinking abilities of cannabis. They also live in a medical marijuana legal state which makes curing your disease a thousand times easier. 

15 Year Old Cures Her Brain Tumour Using Cannabis Oil

 LOW TECH HEALING GREEN CURES TAYLOR’S BRAIN TUMOR

I absolutely had concerns about it. This is definitely out-of-the-box thinking, but we didn’t have any other choices,… We also knew we would be under a microscope. Everyone had an opinion on what we were doing. But, with all the research I did, I knew it couldn’t hurt her.

A gram of the oil costs about $50, but Owen gets the marijuana oil for free from a manufacturer in the Tacoma area. 4

That’s a serendipitous event for sure since the cost of treatment using cannabis oil is about $1,000-$1,500 per month at least. Perspective needs to be maintained. When comparing it to conventional oncology the cost is closer to one percent of the average cost of chemotherapy, radiation and hospital stay.

Cannabis oil,  also known as Rick Simpson Oil (RSO),  is a flourishing alternative       cancer treatment. Research into the science of cannabinoids provides several bona fide mechanisms by which cannabis can actually cause tumors to shrink.

Many scientists have reported that THC the psychoactive component of cannabis, and CBD a non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in marijuana, can kill or inhibit the growth of some types of cancer cells, according to the American Cancer Society.

Many patients who have “cured” themselves of deadly cancers will testify to the power       of whole cannabis preparations such as RSO.  It’s very important  to a use full-spectrum cannabis oil like RSO. This way you will not miss out on the synergistic “entourage effect,” from all seventy or so phytocannabinoids.

Until more research is done unraveling which cannabinoids do what, it’s best to take    them all, stoned or not. My article published last month entitled THE REASONS WHY MARIJUANA KILLS CANCER lists five powerful antitumor properties of THC.

THE FIVE REASONS WHY MARIJUANA CURES CANCERS

1. THC is anti-proliferative. Meaning that it inhibits cancer cells from reproducing.         One of the hallmarks of cancer cells is that they keep replicating, they are immortal and unstoppable, that’s the problem. “THC inhibits protein synthesis so that tumors cannot grow.” (Dr. Donald Tashkin Pulmonary and Critical care UCSF)

2. An antiangiogenic effect. Here THC inhibits the ability of cancer cells to grow new   blood vessels. Stop blood vessel formation and you prevent cancers from feeding and oxygenating thus encouraging their demise.

3. Anti-metastatic effect. THC prevents cancers from spreading from the  tumor into    other parts of the body. Keeping a primary tumor from metastasizing is of paramount importance in reducing death rates in cancers. The mets are which generally kill the patient by disrupting organ function and starving the patient of vital nutrients.

4. THC has a powerful apoptotic effect.  Meaning that the THC induces cancer cells to     commit suicide. This is a feature of normal cells but malignant cells have lost that ability so they live forever. This effect hastens the death of cancer cells while leaving normal cells untouched.

5. THC stimulates CB receptors on tumors to produce ceramide. Ceramide is a compound that enters cancer cells and inactivates the cell’s energy source the mitochondria.            This leads to cell death.

It’s not an easy treatment. It’s not fun. It is a very strong medicine, and that’s why it’s medicine. It’s not recreational.

Because the medicine was so strong, Taylor had to be removed from school. But nowadays, she is certainly improving.

Today, Taylor is monitored every six months, rather than every three months. She is also now able to return to school, though she only attends four days a week for three hours each day.

For the rest of her life, Taylor will have to take a daily dose to keep cancer at bay, according to Owen. However, the future is brighter than ever for the family.

Instead of planning for the next MRI, Taylor and her mom and planning family vacations. And although Taylor’s oncologist at St. John Medical Center in Longview gives cannabis no credit, both Taylor and Owen fully believe it was cannabis that cured her.
 MUMS THE WORD ON THE ONCOLOGY WARD

Oncologists at St. John Medical Center in Longview did not want to comment. Taylor’s oncologist at Seattle Children’s was unavailable for an interview, but Owen said he didn’t credit marijuana oil for eliminating the tumor.

I LOVE THE THOUGHT OF MARIJUANA OIL BEING NATURAL

Taylor started taking marijuana oil at a rice grain-sized dosage, building up her tolerance to 1-gram capsules for 3 months. A naturopath (an alternative medicine practitioner) monitored Taylor’s dosage, but she would still experience hallucinations that lasted about 10 hours, Owen said.

I love the thought of (the marijuana oil) being natural. It really changed my life, but it did give me some trouble…I lost who I was.

Owen said her daughter seemed like she was in an “altered state” on the medicine. However, Owen said she did not want to equate the medication to being “stoned.”

It’s not an easy treatment. It’s not fun,…It is a very strong medicine, and that’s why it’s medicine. It’s not recreational.

The medicine was so strong that Owen pulled Taylor out of school last November — about the same time the tumor started shrinking. 5

The Rule of the Thumb for Cannabis Oil &  Cancer Treatment

 Taylor Rehmeyer glad to be back in one of her favorite trees at home in Winlock, cancer free, with her mother Karen Owen

 CURED WITH CANNABIS OIL?

Winlock 15-year-old Taylor Rehmeyer has battled an aggressive brain cancer for   nearly a decade with chemotherapy and radiation. But she and her mother say it        was marijuana that finally cured her.

Her mom (Karen Owen) relates that Taylor’s last MRI was done in May, showed            no major abnormalities. There was no evidence of any tumor left in Taylor’s brain.

Karen Owen: the doctors at Seattle Children’s Hospital don’t want to admit it was cannabis, but I don’t care. She’s cancer-free, it’s more than we could have ever hoped.

Taylor was diagnosed at age 6 with a rare brain tumor that has returned three times. She had two brain surgeries and one proton therapy session. For nine years Taylor has been in and out of hospitals. Each time thinking things were going to improve, but they never were able to cure her or put her into remission. Not until she completed a three-month course of RSO at one gram per day which appears to be the average cancer busting dose once you build up your tolerance to the potent psychotropic effects.

I believe the cannabis oil played an important role in her “cure.” Although this brain   tumor is not an aggressive malignancy like GBM, it is still a rapidly growing cell type.         It is noteworthy, in some cases these tumors may regress into deadly and destructive      cell types such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most aggressive brain tumors in existence.

Taylor’s case is another example of why we need clinical trials on human volunteers.

Dr. Christopher Rasmussen
Dr. Christopher Rasmussen MD,MS, an anesthesiologist with a Master’s degree in traditional Chinese medicine, is a professor, lecturer, seminar provider, and world authority on preventive medicine.
For more information on preventive medicine see www.inflaNATION.com.