Symptoms, signs of glioma after Chicago-native Joe Amabile undergoes brain surgery

[00:00:00]Reality star from Chicago recently revealed doctors discovered an early stage brain tumor. Joe Amabile Joe, Grocery Store Joe, is 40 years old and he's better known as as I just said Grocery Store Joe and became a fan favorite of The Bachelorette. He is showing off his new buzz cut right there on Instagram. This ahead of his surgery.

[00:00:21]So, Dr. Nina Payalologos is the director of neuro oncology at Advocate Health Care and she's here to explain what Joe may be facing and what to watch out for in terms of symptoms. Good morning, doctor.

[00:00:32]>> Good morning. Thank you for having me.

[00:00:34]>> thank you for being here. And, you know, Grocery Store Joe has a blurry or blueberry sized um lesion on his brain.

[00:00:42]What could that indicate?

[00:00:44]>> Well, I think from what I understand they're suspicious that he may have a glioma.

[00:00:50]>> Mhm.

[00:00:50]>> But, I think until they remove that and get a piece of it, look at it under the microscope, it's unclear what that is going to be.

[00:00:58]>> And what exactly is glioma?

[00:01:01]>> Glioma is a general term. It includes a number of tumors of cells within the brain. They're the supporting cells.

[00:01:08]They're not the nerve cells themselves, but but cells like astrocytes, oligodendrocytes.

[00:01:16]Um those cells can turn into tumors.

[00:01:19]They can if their DNA goes a little haywire and tumors can develop. So, they're tumors of the brain themselves and glioma is a general term that encompasses several different cell types.

[00:01:30]>> What are some symptoms of a brain tumor that we can watch out for?

[00:01:34]>> Well, it's not so much specific to tumors. It's more dependent, the symptoms are more dependent on the location. So, if you had a glioma or any kind of brain tumor in your motor area, you might develop weakness on the opposite side. If you had it in a sensory area, you might have numbness or tingling. If it's right at the cortex or the outer part of the brain, you could have seizures. So, if they're large enough, perhaps headaches. So, it's the symptoms of a brain tumor are not specific to a brain tumor per se.

[00:02:07]They're more specific to the location in the brain where the brain tumor is is located.

[00:02:13]>> Who would you say is at risk of developing a glioma?

[00:02:17]>> You know, there really are no strong known risk factors for gliomas other than there are some genetic syndromes that would predispose folks to brain tumors and then sometimes like people who have had radiation or been exposed to radiation say like in at Chernobyl in a big radiation disaster or children that were treated with cranial radiation for leukemia when they're very young as they get older they may be predisposed.

[00:02:49]>> So, what is the survival rate of this kind of cancer?

[00:02:53]>> Well, gliomas are a number of different cell types. They're also different grades. So, the prognosis really depends upon the cell type and the grade predominantly. There's some molecular markers that will also sort of contribute to that prognosis.

[00:03:08]>> And you have an incredibly tough job.

[00:03:10]You have to walk folks through brain cancer. Why do you do it?

[00:03:15]>> Well, you know, the journey that people take even if it's a rough one, it's I it's the biggest thing that ever happened to them in their lives, right?

[00:03:24]And so, to help steer that ship for them uh in a in a case like this like many other types of cancers, there are a lot of different doctors involved. You may have a surgeon in the beginning, there may be a radiation oncologist, there may be a medical oncologist giving chemotherapy. Somebody has to sort of guide that treatment plan and steer that ship and follow those patients from the very beginning of their diagnosis till you know, all the way through that journey. So, for me helping people manage the entire journey and supporting them through that journey, that's really why I do it.