Jigar Raythatha (Ray-tha-tha), 46, glioma, Lexington, with Kinnary (wife) and Patrick Wen, MD, Director, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber

Jigar Raythatha (Ray-tha-tha), 46, glioma, Lexington, with Kinnary (wife) and Patrick Wen, MD, Director, Center for Neuro-Oncology, Dana-Farber After two weeks of an unresolved headache, Jigar’s doctor ordered an urgent brain MRI,which revealed some abnormal findings. To get a definitive diagnosis, doctors would need toaccess his brain, so Jigar opted for a biopsy over a craniotomy. The results found he hadIDH-mutant astrocytoma, a biomarker for patients with glioma; these findings would guide theapproach to his brain surgery.· For treatment post-surgery, he takes one pill daily as an IDH inhibitor. Jigar will take thiswhile waiting for a new targeted therapy to be approved and finalized: it’s designed specificallyto target the mutation that is causing his type of cancer. At Dana-Farber, he appreciates howeveryone recognizes that you’re going through something very hard and always meets youwhere you are in your emotional journey.· For work, Jigar is the former CEO of a pharmaceutical company that focused on developingnew cancer treatments. Since selling the company two years ago, he now works in venturecapital to start and fund new companies that develop drugs to treat cancer and other diseases.The company that initially developed his current treatment, Third Rock Ventures, was startedand funded through his firm. Outside of work, Jigar loves watching sports and playing mostsports. He’s a big baseball fan, but unfortunately roots for the Mets because he grew up in NewJersey. Glioma facts· The American Cancer Society’s estimates for brain and spinal cord tumors in the UnitedStates for 2023 include both adults and children about 24,810 malignant tumors of the brain orspinal cord (14,280 in males and 10,530 in females) will be diagnosed. These numbers would bemuch higher if benign (non-cancer) tumors were also included.· Overall, the chance that a person will develop a malignant tumor of the brain or spinalcord in their lifetime is less than 1%. The risk of developing any type of brain or spinal cordtumor is slightly higher among women than among men, although the risk of developing amalignant tumor is slightly higher for men than for women. This is largely because certain typesof tumors are more common in one sex or the other (for example, meningiomas are morecommon in women).· Survival rates for brain and spinal cord tumors vary widely, depending on the type of tumor(and other factors).Patrick Wen, MD· Dr. Wen graduated from the Medical College of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, University ofLondon, in 1981. He completed his internal medicine training at the University of Londonpostgraduate hospitals and his neurology residency in the Harvard-Longwood NeurologyTraining Program. His research is focused on novel treatments of brain tumors, especiallytargeted molecular agents. His other clinical interests include neurologic complications ofcancer.