New Technology Gives Glioblastoma Patient Hope
- Steve B
- Apr 8
- 5 min read
Armando De Zayas is a real estate appraiser and analyst. Throughout his career, he studied market trends and values in South Florida. His research has helped many navigate the market trends in Miami’s housing market for more than 40 years.
So, when he discovered he had glioblastoma, or “the issue,” as he calls it, De Zayas reacted in the same way he faces any challenge: He immediately began researching his options.
He didn’t find many.
Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and fatal form of primary brain cancer. In the United States, approximately 13,000 patients are diagnosed with the disease each year. Treatment typically involves surgery, radiotherapy and maintenance chemotherapy.
De Zayas has never had any serious health issues and takes good care of himself, he says.
“Generally, I am in good shape,” De Zayas said. “I would cycle 40-80 miles, and I was training to go to the Camino de Santiago in Spain, which I had done in 2019.”
But following an 18-mile ride in Miami, De Zayas had a headache. He took some medicine and hoped to sleep it off. When it persisted over the next several days, he called his primary doctor, who scheduled an MRI.
“Sure enough, he told me he didn’t have good news,” De Zayas said. “He said I had massive swelling in my brain and that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. At the hospital they told me they discovered a baseball sized tumor in my brain.”
Almost immediately, De Zayas went into surgery to remove as much of the tumor as possible. With treatment, he was told he had 12-18 months left. If he decided to forego treatment, he’d be lucky to live eight more months.
That’s when he and his family had to make a decision. With their full support, he decided to fight.
Tackling the Blood-Brain Barrier
The Sonocloud device sits on top of the brain membrane and is activated through the port on top.
The biggest challenge neuro-oncologists and neurosurgeons face with glioblastoma is the blood-brain barrier. The barrier is a membrane that serves as a gatekeeper, regulating what can and cannot enter the brain. It prevents chemotherapy from getting into the brain or the brain tumor, offering limited ways to administer effective chemotherapy into cancerous tumors within the brain. It’s a dilemma that has challenged doctors, researchers and patients for years.
“We know that glioblastoma tumor cells are sensitive to a chemotherapy called carboplatin,” said Michael Vogelbaum, MD, PhD, program leader of the Neuro-Oncology Department and chief of Neurosurgery at Moffitt Cancer Center. “When you put glioblastoma tumor cells in a dish and add carboplatin, they’re very sensitive to it. But carboplatin cannot get into the brain, where the glioblastoma tumor cells are in our patients.”
A new clinical trial offers a solution to the blood-brain barrier challenge. Carthera, a medical technology company, created Sonocloud-9. It’s a mechanism that temporarily disrupts the blood brain barrier to allow chemotherapy to get to the tumor cells in the brain. In February, De Zayas became the first patient in Florida to take part in the trial.
The procedure involves implanting a nine-emitter ultrasound device directly above the tumor’s location in the brain. When activated, the ultrasound opens a small gap in the blood-brain barrier, allowing chemotherapy to reach the tumor.
“There are nine emitters on the bottom side of the ultrasound array and the device is implanted in the window in the skull we made to remove the tumor mass,” Vogelbaum said. “The beams penetrate into the brain and create a temporary opening in the blood-brain-barrier that allows the chemotherapy to enter and reside within the brain where the residual tumor cells reside.”
Vogelbaum describes the Sonocloud-9 trial as “pivotal,” adding that if it shows that patients live longer and that there aren’t unacceptable side effects, it could get U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and be more widely available.
“The original study of this technology convincingly shows that the carboplatin levels were higher in the area that was treated compared to the surrounding brain was not treated,” Vogelbaum said. “This treatment increases the chemotherapy penetration. So, the question now is whether it is enough to make a clinical impact.”
‘A Glimmer of Hope for the Future’
De Zayas knows he is entering into the unknown. The Sonocloud-9 trial is revolutionary and could very well prolong his life and help him maintain a high quality of life. But he also knows that his future is still uncertain.
While it looks promising, the Sonocloud-9 is not the appropriate treatment for all patients with glioblastoma. Several factors determine who is eligible, particularly tumor location.
“There are some anatomical considerations,” Vogelbaum said. “If there are tumors in different parts of the brain at the same time, that’s not going to be amenable to this treatment. And there are some areas where it would just be too difficult to place the array in a way that it can be effective.”
Even before he was approved for the trial, De Zayas was excited and hoped he would qualify, knowing that if he didn’t do anything, his quality of life would likely deteriorate.
“I researched, of course, and knew the hardest part of brain cancer is getting the chemo into the actual brain,” De Zayas said. “So, when I first saw the study about this procedure I thought, ‘Hey, this seems like this could be the ticket.’”
He said he placed his registration for the trial in God’s hands, knowing that there was always a possibility that he would not be accepted. When he was, he found relief — and not just for himself.
“The best thing I could do is get on a clinical trial, and not just for me, but for everyone who walks these halls at Moffitt and halls like this everywhere,” De Zayas said. “It’s a glimmer of hope for the future. If there is any way I can help others with some hope in being treated, hope in longevity of life – if I can bring them that, then all of this is worth it for me.”
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