And the sex symbol of the 90s amazed Russian show business and Zhanna’s fans, who believed in a successful outcome until the last minute. The artist was diagnosed with fourth-degree brain cancer shortly after the birth of her son Plato in 2013, and charitable organizations, together with Channel One, collected more than 68 million rubles for treatment in order to send the singer to one of the best cancer centers in the United States. Vladimir, the singer’s father, said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda that in Russia Zhanna went through all the special clinics, but not one of them received a guarantee that she would not die during surgery. Therefore, for a course of chemotherapy, I needed to go to a New York clinic.

The initial diagnosis of glioblastoma gave doctors hope. This disease is a primary brain tumor and symptoms appear almost immediately: fainting, speech and coordination problems. Timely treatment can sometimes completely get rid of cancer, but it is still unknown why glioblastoma occurs. There were rumors on the Internet that Friske’s tumor was caused by late pregnancy and hormonal changes, but doctors refute this version - the tumor is not hormone-dependent.

Zhanna Friske was treated at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where real luminaries of science conduct consultations, and the institution itself was founded 130 years ago and since then the efforts of doctors have been aimed at studying the terrible disease.

The clinic has a research institute whose developments are put into practice. The center has become the prototype of Doctor House, where there are always more than 10 teams of multidisciplinary specialists. More attention is paid to strict confidentiality and comprehensive therapy, including maintaining patients' morale through massage, hypnosis and acupuncture. After Zhanna completed the course, Rusfond (the curator of cash receipts from charitable events) received an invoice for $135 thousand, paid it and, with the consent of the singer, began to transfer the remaining 30 million rubles for the treatment of seriously ill children on the waiting list.

The actress felt so much better after chemotherapy and the introduction of a nano-vaccine that she was able to travel to China, where she studied oriental healing practices and qigong in the company of her constant companion and former member of the Brilliant group, Olga Orlova, where the TV star began her career. The singer lost weight and began to dress smartly.

Unfortunately, the improvement was short-lived and the disease relapsed again. Returning to Russia, Zhanna turned to the capital's oncology center. The doctors, seeing the artist’s condition (by that time she was almost completely blind and very exhausted), began to doubt whether it was worth continuing to administer the American vaccine to her. The strong drug could have a negative impact on the condition of the worn-out brain, but the relatives insisted on continuing treatment. The last three weeks of my life are one of the most beautiful women Russian cinema spent in a coma and died on the night of June 16. Until the last conscious minutes, the star kept in touch with Olga Orlova and Dmitry Nagiyev.

During her lifetime, Zhanna donated 120,000 euros for a girl, Natasha Dolmatova from Perm, suffering from a malignant brain tumor (medulloblastoma), so that she could undergo treatment in Germany. From time to time, Friske called the Dolmatovs at home to ask how the treatment was going. The girl underwent 11 operations and her condition improved significantly. As my mother told a Life News correspondent, she considered the singer an amazingly kind and sympathetic person with great willpower.

“The last time we spoke to her was in December on the phone. She was cheerful and hoped for the best. - The woman said. “Her son was an incentive for her, she wanted to live for him.” Son Platon was born to Friske in 2013 from TV presenter Dmitry Shepelev, with whom the showwoman did not have time to register her marriage at the registry office. The boy will be raised by his father with the participation of Zhanna's relatives.

That singer Zhanna Friske died after a long battle with cancer - glioblastoma. Lenta.ru understands what kind of illness this is, what its symptoms are, how it is treated, and whether doctors had a chance to prevent the tragic outcome.

Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and most common of the malignant brain tumors (52 percent of all cases). If it is not treated in any way, the patient will live about three months from the moment the first symptoms appear. But even with treatment, the life expectancy is not much longer: for half of those sick it is one year, and only five percent manage to live longer than three years.

Causes

The causes of glioblastoma are largely unclear. It is known that the tumor affects neuroglial cells, a subtype of nervous tissue whose elements nourish and protect neurons. There are ten times more neuroglial cells than neurons. These cells do not reproduce in adulthood, but glial cell precursors are present in the brain. If there are disturbances in their development and reproduction, glioblastoma may occur.

It is impossible to predict who will develop the disease and when. This tumor affects men somewhat more often than women, especially if we talk about men over 50 years of age. The disease is not inherited. Its risk is not increased if a person smokes, eats canned meat, or is exposed to electromagnetic radiation. However, some viruses increase the likelihood of the disease, such as cytomegalovirus, human herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6) and SV40 (a polyomavirus first discovered in monkeys). Ionizing radiation (radiation) also contributes.

There are certain mutations (in the p53, CDK4, Rb genes) associated with the disease, but glioblastoma is almost always accompanied by several mutations in a complex. The types of such mutations are also different: they can be deletions (loss of DNA fragments from chromosomes), amplifications (increased number of DNA copies compared to the norm) and even point mutations (replacements of one or two nucleotides out of thousands of similar ones in the DNA molecule).

It is reported that Zhanna Friske felt unwell some time after the birth of her child. There is no evidence that pregnancy and childbirth can cause the disease. However, they can accelerate the development of any glial brain tumor (not necessarily glioblastoma), especially the second or third degree.

Image: Christaras A. / Wikipedia

Symptoms

On the one hand, the adult brain does not have special capabilities to restore its functions. On the other hand, there are so many cells in it that the brain is able to survive very significant losses without deterioration in performance.

This plays a cruel joke on all patients with brain tumors, including patients with glioblastoma. As a rule, a tumor is detected on tomographic images when it is already irreparably large and contains hundreds of billions of cells. Only then does the patient begin to feel unwell: nausea, vomiting, convulsions, headache. Obviously, none of these signs are unique. The same symptoms apply to traumatic brain injuries (which, by the way, sometimes cause brain tumors).

“Early diagnosis of glioblastoma, unfortunately, is only possible by chance: for example, as a result of an MRI. Given the clinical indicators for diagnosis, the disease is far from at an early stage,” said Alexey Remez, CEO of the medical startup UNIM.

Treatment

Modern medicine cannot cure glioblastoma completely. All doctors can do is to increase the patient's life expectancy after diagnosis by 10-12 times. In absolute numbers, the increase is insignificant: without treatment, a patient dies after three months, and someone who has had the tumor surgically removed lives one to two years, sometimes three.

It is difficult to treat glioblastoma, since drugs that could act on the tumor do not pass well through the blood-brain barrier - the cellular layer between the vessels and neurons of the brain that does not allow bacteria, viruses, or cells to pass through. immune system, no medicine. In addition, the tumor cells themselves are extremely resistant to many chemotherapy drugs.

The main treatment method is surgical removal of the tumor. The patient's life is prolonged if at least 98 percent of its volume is removed. Considering the normal size of the tumor, there are still a billion malignant cells left after surgery. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy reduce this number by ten thousand times, but the tumor quickly grows and returns to its previous size.

Of course, doctors and patients pin their hopes on new treatment methods. For example, in February 2015, Israeli scientists in the scientific journal ACS Nano reported an experiment on the treatment of glioblastoma in laboratory mice using nanoparticles that deliver small interfering RNA to the tumor. Such molecules can block the production of proteins by malignant cells. One hundred days after the start of the experiment, 60 percent of the individuals from the experimental group remained alive, and in the control group (without therapy at all) no one lasted longer than 40 days.

Of course, the experiment was conducted on mice, not humans. In addition, the tumor did not disappear after such therapy, which means there is no need to talk about a complete recovery.

Was there a chance?

“Theoretically, Zhanna Friske’s tumor could have been detected earlier. In practice, the timing of diagnosis, as well as life expectancy, depend on many factors. The localization of glioblastoma plays an important role: depending on which area of ​​the brain the tumor is located, it will make itself felt sooner or later. Accordingly, life spans will differ. For example, glioblastoma in the trunk would have been found earlier, but the patient’s life expectancy would have been shorter... Unfortunately, the disease is incurable. Two years (that’s how long Zhanna Friske fought the disease) is above average. The patient’s life expectancy is influenced by age: as it increases, life expectancy after diagnosis progressively decreases,” said Alexey Kislyakov, a pathologist specializing in central tumors. nervous system, head of the pathomorphological laboratory of the Morozov hospital.

On June 15, 2015, Zhanna Friske, the ex-soloist of the group “Brilliant”, a popular singer and actress, passed away. The cause of Friske’s death was a malignant brain tumor - the singer struggled with an incurable disease, brain cancer, for two years. Doctors' opinions were divided as to what exactly caused Zhanna's illness.

Progress of the disease

The fact that Zhanna Friske was suffering from inoperable brain cancer became known shortly after the singer gave birth to her son Plato - in early June 2013. The diagnosis put an end to all hopes: glioblastoma, an inoperable brain tumor. The first symptom was headaches, but the disease progressed rapidly. Soon Zhanna stopped appearing in public. In January 2014, family and relatives confirmed in a statement on the singer’s official website that Zhanna was seriously ill. The singer’s diagnosis was confirmed by the chief oncologist of the Russian Federation, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Mikhail Davydov. According to doctors, the singer had no more than a month to live.

Around the same time, Friske left for treatment in the United States - she underwent the necessary procedures at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. This was followed by rehabilitation in Latvia, another course of treatment in China, again a course in an American hospital (this time in Los Angeles) and, finally, treatment in Moscow, at the Russian Oncology Research Center named after N. N. Blokhin. Although the latest drugs gave Friska almost 2 years of life; in the last months of her life, doctors could not help the singer. For the last three months before her death, Friske was in a coma, without regaining consciousness.

What caused Zhanna Friske's cancer

Doctors began arguing about what caused Friske’s cancer at the beginning of 2014, when the singer’s family confirmed her diagnosis - and they continue to argue to this day. For a long time, one of the most popular versions was the version associated with the rejuvenation procedures that Zhanna allegedly underwent. The procedures involved the injection of stem cells into the spinal canal - and as a result of the body’s rejection of “foreign” tissues, the development of a tumor could well begin.

However, some representatives of medicine also called even more ridiculous versions - for example, that brain cancer is provoked by too much exposure to the sun, in fact, by solar radiation.

Could IVF cause the disease?

After the funeral of Zhanna Friske, discussion of the causes of cancer flared up with renewed vigor. A number of medical experts have put forward new version– according to doctors, the cause of Friske’s brain cancer could have been an IVF (in vitro fertilization) procedure.

Having celebrated her 30th birthday, the singer began to dream of a child, but could not get pregnant for several years in a row. Zhanna underwent the IVF procedure several times after meeting Dmitry Shepelev, her husband, and doctors claim that it could have caused a malignant brain tumor.

Although IVF has been used in medical practice since 1978, the health risks of this procedure have not yet been fully studied. The procedure itself consists of “external” fertilization of eggs, after which the resulting embryos are grown in a special incubator and only then transferred to the mother’s uterus. IVF is a complex treatment method that involves the constant use of hormonal medications to stimulate ovulation and subsequent pregnancy management.

Precisely because IVF treatment involves constant intake hormonal drugs, it disrupts a woman’s natural hormonal balance – and can cause many health problems. In the rarest cases, indeed, these diseases can threaten not only the health, but also the life of a person - as, apparently, happened to Zhanna Friske.

The famous Russian singer died on June 15, 2015 in her mansion in Balashikha. The singer's diagnosis is glioblastoma - brain cancer, a very rare disease, it can occur in only 1.5 percent of the world's inhabitants, especially in adults, this disease can be diagnosed and detected on early stages does not work.

All these facts were written in newspapers, magazines and the media. The whole world began to closely monitor the star and worry about her health. Friends collected money and took the singer for treatment, first to the USA, then to Germany. This extended the singer’s life by two years. The news of her death horrified millions of fans.

But what were the real reasons for Zhanna Friske’s cancer? And what happens in the Friske family after she passes away.

Recently the real reason that caused Zhanna Friske’s cancer became known. After talking with Zhanna’s doctor, oncologist Mikhail Ivanovich, details of the singer’s illness became known. Mikhail said that the singer did not have the slightest chance of survival, and that she lived with this diagnosis for two years was already a miracle. When the oncologist was asked what caused Friske’s brain cancer. He replied that it was quite possible that this IVF procedure influenced the growth of the tumor, which may have already begun in Friske’s head. A sharp hormonal attack was made on the body, which provoked the growth of the tumor. Can also cause cancer Cell phones, which emit specific magnetic waves, said Mikhail. However, this fact has not yet been confirmed, and this is just speculation.

After Friske gave birth to her son, she began to experience headaches, nausea, drowsiness, memory and speech problems. She loved her son Plato very much. Zhanna even once told her sister that if she had known that she would die like this because of IVF back then, she would still have given birth to a child, because... the child is the best thing that happened to her in her life. After Zhanna's death, Friske's father and husband, Dmitry Shepelev, took their son to the sea and they were not at the funeral. Dmitry did not want Plato to remember his mother like this. The child still doesn’t know that his mother died and his father doesn’t know how to tell his son about it. In the meantime, Dmitry shows photos and videos of his mother to his son Platun every day and talks about Zhanna, as if she had gone far away and could not come yet.

The singer and actress, who in half a month would have turned only 41 years old.

Zhanna for two years: brain cancer was discovered in the singer almost immediately after her son Plato was born. The boy recently turned 2 years old.

They tried to treat the actress in the best clinics in Germany and the USA. At some point it seemed that the disease had subsided, but it only lay low. The singer's father, after she died, admitted that for the last three months Zhanna had been in a coma.

In recent days, in medical circles, doctors have been discussing in a half-whisper the reason that provoked brain cancer in a young and seemingly healthy woman (moreover, in its rare form - glioblastoma).

Director of the Center on Kashirskoye Shosse in Moscow (where in Lately Zhanna was treated) - the chief oncologist of Russia, Mikhail Davydov, admitted in an interview with MK: Zhanna, alas, had no chance to survive. According to him, the maximum that a person with such a disease can live is one and a half years.

When asked by a correspondent whether Zhanna’s pregnancy (in particular, IVF) could provoke this terrible disease, Davydov replied: “IVF only accelerated the growth of a tumor already existing in the brain. In general, any pregnancy acts as a provocateur of many diseases, to which a person has a predisposition. And especially IVF, when there is a powerful hormonal attack on the body, and even more so if a person has a tumor (Friske could already have one).”

“Perhaps this tumor was very small. IVF provoked its growth. After all, her headaches began immediately after the birth of the child,” explained the chief oncologist of Russia.

Other doctors partly agree with his opinion. Thus, in an interview with Sobesednik, oncologist Olga Fadeeva noted: “A malignant formation does not appear in a week or two - it usually “matures” for years. So childbirth cannot in any way cause cancer, but it can provoke a sharp growth of a tumor that formed even before pregnancy. - Yes".

Gynecologist-reproductologist Ivan Barinov, for his part, reports that extensive examinations of patients who resorted to in vitro fertilization (IVF) were carried out in the USA and Europe. According to him, “the same data were obtained everywhere - in vitro conception does not increase the risk of developing cancer.”

However, Barinov notes, not every woman who has had cancer in the past is allowed to undergo IVF - the decision on this is made by the oncologist.

“However, if a healthy girl who became a mother through artificial insemination is diagnosed with cancer soon after giving birth, then this disease was probably missed even before pregnancy,” says gynecologist-reproductologist Ivan Barinov. “Although, by law, all patients must undergo IVF before the IVF procedure.” examination by specialists of various profiles.”

In a commentary on this topic to Komsomolskaya Pravda, obstetrician-gynecologist Vera Balan explained: “Cancer “matures” for 15-20 years. And it cannot appear just like that after an IVF procedure! It’s a different matter if the tumor has been hiding for many years without causing any complaints, then during pregnancy it could begin to grow. After all, pregnancy is a serious hormonal and immune change, everything in the body changes.”

At the same time, the doctor noted that during the IVF procedure, the existing tumor might not have been noticed. According to her, “IVF and pregnancy cannot be the CAUSE of brain cancer, but any hormonal “storm” can accelerate the development.

The day before with Zhanna Friske at the Moscow concert hall "Crocus City Hall". With the singer... June 18 in the Moscow region.