Followup Care and Evaluation 
After you have finished the course of Cytovene you will be discharged from the hospital. Two weeks 
after discharge you will be required to return to the neurosurgical clinic as an outpatient for followup 
studies. You will undergo neurological and physical examination as well as laboratory tests similar to 
those performed prior to your surgery. A brain scan will also be obtained. Following the initial visit, you 
will be seen as an outpatient at two week intervals for two months and monthly for ten months. The 
number of visits in the first year will depend upon the status of your tumor. We expect that we will 
receive one sample of blood per year for the remainder of your life to monitor the safety of this gene 
transfer methodology. 
Study Risks 
A small portion of people develop allergic reactions to the contrast agents given during brain scanning. 
These symptoms include nausea, headache, hot flashes, and heart palpitations. They usually resolve 
spontaneously within minutes. A smaller group of patients are actually "allergic" to the dye and may 
develop hives, rash, respiratory difficulty and in extremely cases pulmonary and cardiac arrest. You will 
be closely monitored and if an allergic reaction develops, you will be promptly treated with Epinephrine 
and breathing assistance if necessary. These therapies are immediately available in the room where the 
brain scan is performed. 
The surgical risks depend upon the preoperative condition of the patient, the nature of the operation, and 
the location and size of the tumor. Known risks associated with brain surgery include hemorrhage, 
deterioration of neurological function (such as weakness of the arm and/or leg, loss of sensation over 
parts of your body, and partial or complete loss of functions related to communication such as speech 
and comprehension as well as function related to intellectual capacity and memory), infection and death. 
The relative risks will be discussed with you in accordance with your condition, specific findings, and 
planned surgical procedures. 
The Ommaya reservoir is a commonly used device in neurosurgery. This reservoir is inserted under the 
skin with an attached tube that extends into the area of tumor. A needle is inserted through the skin 
into the chamber of the reservoir for injection of material into the tumor. The potential complications 
relating to the use of the Ommaya reservoir are infection and bleeding. 
Risks of the Vector/TK gene transfer 
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Recombinant DNA Research, Volume 17 
