A New Jersey woman's battle against an invasive tumor -- and impending blindness -- has led her to UCSF Medical Center for an unusual radiation treatment that may save both her eyesight and her life.

"It is literally a ray of hope," said Gina Foster, a 41-year-old widow and mother of two who is in San Francisco for several weeks of treatment by UCSF radiation oncologist David Larson, MD, PhD. Foster faces losing vision in her left eye due to an optic meningioma, a rare slow-growing tumor which first blinded her right eye in 1992. Although surgery is the most common treatment for such tumors, the procedure would cut the optic nerve, resulting in total blindness.

Radiation therapists Robert Chen (left) and Diem Truong check Gina Foster's mask; the mask is marked with x's so infrared light beams can locate the area to be radiated.

Because the tumor is so rare, few specialists in the US have the experience Larson has with these cases. Specialists treating Foster at the Wills Eye Hospital in Philadelphia--who consulted with both Larson and William Hoyt, MD, UCSF professor emeritus of ophthalmology and neurosurgery--recommended that she travel to UCSF for the radiation treatment.

"There is a tumor on her right side that could grow into the brain and threaten her life," Larson said. "We want to stop it from growing. There is an extremely low chance of causing damage to her eye."

Larson, professor in residence in the departments of radiation oncology and neurosurgery, expects to give Foster a 30-minute treatment of low-dose radiation five times a week over a total period of seven weeks. Foster is now finishing her sixth week. The treatment is aided by the use of a recent technology called 3-dimensional conformal radiation, which pinpoints x-ray beams to the target area.

Each day, a mesh mask made from a mold of her face is applied to keep Foster's head in place during the treatment. While she remains perfectly still listening to music, three radiation beams are focused precisely on the tumor. Even 10 years ago, when Foster was first diagnosed with optic nerve sheath meningioma, Larson acknowledges radiation treatment for such tumors was seen as new and controversial. But with recent advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans that provide more accurate mapping of the tumor as well as advances in radiation therapy itself, "It has become almost pointless to do surgery for these types of tumors," Larson said. Although he emphasizes that Foster's condition is rare, Larson has treated nearly 40 such patients with radiation.

For Foster, the past few years have been both traumatic and challenging. A county employee who was widowed when her husband died in a bicycle accident seven years ago, Foster has raised her two girls, ages 17 and 10, alone.

"It is living with the unknown," she said, philosophically. "There are no certainties." And, Foster is aware she is not yet out of the woods. "At least, this offers a chance," Foster said. "Because I'm at risk of losing my sight, I've really learned to appreciate vision as a tremendous gift. Right now, it's wonderful just to see the flowers in Golden Gate Park."

By Dale Martin

1st appeared 10/03/97

RETURN TO TOP