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BRAIN TUMOR |
Definition |
| Our body consists of various kinds of cells and each cell performs unique function. When these cells start growing abnormally or loose their ability to control their growth. This abnormal growth of tissue in the brain is called tumor. A tumor or neoplasm refers to a new growth of cells that already exist in a certain part of the body. Many different tumors can occur in the nervous system. They often cause headaches, seizures or neurological deficits. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Malignant tumors are referred to as cancers. Each year, more than 16,000 people find out they have a brain tumor. |
Causes |
The causes of brain tumors are not known. Researchers are trying to solve this problem. Doctors generally divide brain tumors into the following categories to explain where or how they originate:
- Primary. Primary brain tumors originate in the brain or close to it, such as in the skull, brain membranes (meninges), cranial nerves, pituitary gland or pineal gland. Most brain tumors in children are primary. Slightly more than one-fourth of all brain tumors are primary. The remaining are secondary (metastatic). It's not known what causes primary brain tumors. It's possible that heredity, environmental factors, viruses or other factors play a role in their development.
Some common types of primary tumors — named after the type of brain cells from which they originate — include acoustic neuromas (schwannomas), astrocytomas, medulloblastomas, meningiomas and oligodendrogliomas.
- Secondary. Secondary (metastatic) brain tumors are tumors that result from cancer that starts elsewhere in your body and then spreads (metastasizes) to your brain. Cancers of the lung and breast are most likely to spread to your brain. Sometimes, a brain tumor is the first sign of cancer that began elsewhere in your body.
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Signs and Symptoms |
The signs and symptoms of a brain tumor depend on its size, location and rate of growth.
A brain tumor - primary or secondary - can cause a variety of signs and symptoms because it can directly press on or invade brain tissue. This can damage or destroy areas responsible for sight, movement, balance, speech, hearing, memory or behavior. Pressure from a brain tumor can also cause surrounding brain tissue to swell (edema), further increasing pressure and symptoms.
Signs and symptoms can include the following:
- New onset or change in pattern of headaches
- Headaches that gradually become more frequent and more severe
- Unexplained nausea or vomiting
- Vision problems, such as blurred vision, double vision or loss of peripheral vision
- Gradual loss of sensation or movement in an arm or a leg
- Difficulty with balance
- Speech difficulties
- Confusion in everyday matters
- Personality or behavior changes
- Seizures, especially in someone who doesn't have a history of seizures — as with epilepsy, for example
- Hearing problems
- Hormonal (endocrine) disorders
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Treatment |
Researchers are looking for treatment methods that are more effective against brain tumors and have fewer side effects. Treatment strategies are based on the kind of tumor, the stage of the cancer and the needs of the patient.
Treatment can involve surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Brain tumors are best treated by a team involving a neurosurgeon, radiation oncologist, oncologist or neuro-oncologist, and other health care providers, such as neurologists and social workers. Early treatment often improves the chance of a good outcome. Treatment, however, depends on the size and type of tumor and the general health of the patient. The goals of treatment may be to cure the tumor, relieve symptoms, and improve brain function or the person's comfort.
Surgery is necessary for most primary brain tumors. Some tumors may be completely removed. Those that are deep inside the brain or that enter brain tissue may be debulked instead of entirely removed. Debulking is a procedure to reduce the tumor's size. Tumors can be difficult to remove completely by surgery alone, because the tumor invades surrounding brain tissue much like roots from a plant spread through soil. In cases where the tumor cannot be removed, surgery may still help reduce pressure and relieve symptoms.
Radiation therapy and chemotherapy may be used for certain tumors. |
Emerging treatments |
Technology is evolving and helping to make the treatment of brain tumors more precise.
- Stereotactic localization. This technique utilizes a MRI scan to map a tumor's exact location within the brain. Techniques using lasers and ultrasound also make removal of the tumor more precise, reducing the risk that cancer cells will be left behind and that healthy tissue will be harmed.
- Stereotactic radiosurgery. This treatment precisely focuses radiation beams to a tumor. No scalpels are involved. Gamma knife stereotactic radiosurgery delivers radiation beams in the exact size and shape of the tumor, with the aid of brain-imaging techniques.
- Drug-delivering implants. Researchers are also studying new ways to deliver cancer-fighting drugs to brain tumors. For instance, biodegradable wafers containing cancer-fighting drugs are being implanted in some tumors during surgery.
- Other approaches. Gene therapy, drugs that cut off a tumor's blood supply and agents that may be able to interrupt tumor growth or to seek out and kill brain cancer cells are all under investigation.
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| So, it will be better for you to get more and more information about brain tumor because the more you prepared, the more you become comfortable while taking decision. |
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