gamma knife to chemotherapy/ is there a waiting period before chemotherapy can start??

Hi there. There is really a differing opinion on when to start chemotherapy for situations like these. For standard external beam radiotherapy, chemotherapy may be given as long as the areas irradiated are healed. The time span would usually take 3-6 weeks after the last day of radiotherapy. However, your case makes use of a very localized form of radiation (the gamma knife), which may not cause much damage to the nearby structures, and therefore results in faster healing, and gives us the possibility of instituting chemotherapy earlier. I believe that your oncologist is worried about the phenomenon of "radiation recall", where previously irradiated areas flare up or develop untoward symptoms when given chemotherapy too early. This decision should be undertaken jointly by you and your doctor. Early chemotherapy (about 2 weeks) after gamma knife may cause increased side effects but better treatment response, while chemotherapy after 4 weeks may not appear to aggressive an approach but may have lesser side effects. I suggest that you discuss this in depth with your oncologist and come up with a good decision. Regards and God bless.

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