Eye cancer treatment side effects - 1260988

paulam
Posts:1

My dad was treated with radiation for eye cancer about 2.5 years ago from a center in Boston. He is not able to see out of the one eye as we knew could happen with his treatment. My question and concern is this: From the radiation treatment, could this treatment have affected his brain to the point where he is not even able to dress himself in the morning, to understand left and right, to not be able to speak full sentences or to get his thoughts out in words?

We have no history of Alz or Dimensia in our family and his symptoms happened shortly after his treatment and they happened very fast and within 2 years.

Could someone reach out to see if they too have experienced what my dad is going through? I just need some advice...

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Reply # - December 10, 2013, 03:19 PM

catdander
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Hello paulam, I'm sorry your dad is experiencing these symptoms. Since there are other reasons for these symptoms our doctors could do no more than guess what the underlying issue is/are. Radiation to the head does carry risks of damaging healthy brain tissue or swelling in the brain. One way to help your dad is to make sure his treating team understands his problems. Perhaps you can accompany him to appointments to ask relevant questions and help your dad follow through with treatment or therapy.

We have blogs by our doctors that discuss issues related to brain radiation. You may want to search for that info. The following is a start but a neurologist may better be able to address his problems at this point, http://cancergrace.org/search-results?q=cognitive%20side%20effects%20fr…

Reply # - December 10, 2013, 06:24 PM

Dr West
Posts: 4735

Based on the limited radiation field, I would say that it's extremely hard for me to imagine that his current cognitive issues are related to prior radiation to the eye, which probably delivered extremely little radiation to the brain. I think you'd be best served seeing a neurologist and looking into other causes.

Good luck.

-Dr. West

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