Department of Neurosurgery

Neuro-Oncology Program

Treatment Options

The team will attempt to help the patient and family make medical decisions that are as comfortable and appropriate as possible. The patient will make the final decision of treatment at all times. Whenever possible, standard treatments will be arranged at a facility most convenient for the patient. Patients will be educated regarding the investigational and experimental treatments available at West Virginia University and other facilities around the country. The team will cooperate with any treatments undertaken in outside facilities.

Experimental therapy usually involves a treatment that has been recently developed. Experimental treatments have undergone some scientific research that indicates that it might be beneficial. However, the potential benefits and risks involved in the treatment have not been fully evaluated in humans. The purpose of experimental therapy is to see how safe the treatment could be and to obtain an initial idea of how effective it may be.

Investigational therapy has been evaluated for a few years in patients and found to be relatively safe and potentially effective. The investigational treatment is being evaluated scientifically by comparing its benefits and risks to standard treatments. The scientific comparison usually involves comparing the results of patients treated with the standard therapy to the results of other patients treated with the investigational therapy.

A prospective randomized trial is sometimes used to more scientifically compare the standard and investigational therapy. This type of an investigation asks patients to allow a computer to choose whether they would be treated with the standard or the investigational treatment. Investigational treatment is frequently performed in cooperation with other universities around the country under the supervision of the National cancer institute. The results of these investigations are communicated by computer to national headquarters in a manner to protect the privacy of each patient. Standard treatments usually have been available for many years with significant information regarding the potential benefits and risks involved.