Symptoms and Complications

Brain cancer causes symptoms when it pushes on the brain that destroys brain tissue. Symptoms depend on the size and location of the tumor, and the speed at which it multiplies. Although headaches are often a symptom of brain cancer, it is important to remember that most headaches are not caused by cancer but are caused by less serious conditions such as migraine or tension. Headaches caused by brain tumors are often severe, associated with nausea and vomiting and often worse early in the day. They can last long or occur intermittently.

Other symptoms include:

* Dizziness
* Impaired vision as double vision
* Impaired coordination
* Weakness or numbness on one side of body
* Seizures
* Changes in mood, senses, personality or feelings
* Impaired memory
* A state of confusion or difficulty concentrating

Is usually treated brain cancers by a combined strategy of surgery, chemotherapy (anticancer drugs) and radiation, combined with the administration of drugs to control symptoms. It is frequently administered high doses of steroids to reduce any swelling caused by the tumor. Often this You can use anticonvulsant medications to prevent seizures.

We practice a surgery to excise the cancerous tissue more than possible. Some brain cancers are located in areas that surgeons can not reach without damaging other important parts of the brain. In these cases, it is often preferable not to operate the patient. Even when surgery can not completely excise the tumor, it allows to reduce the size and relieve symptoms, and can optimize the effectiveness of other treatments.

Surgery is usually followed by radiation. Often this intervention does not cure brain cancer, but it allows to control the tumor for months or years. Some types of brain cancers may respond to chemotherapy. It has a collection of different drugs for chemotherapy, and others are currently under study.

The treatment of metastatic cancers (which are spread) depends largely on their region of origin. For example, treating a lung cancer that has metastasized to the brain the same way as other lung cancers. We can handle that part of the cancer that has invaded the brain by irradiation. If metastases are confined to a region of the brain, they are sometimes removed by performing a surgical removal.

Advances in technology provide new treatment options such as using lasers and ultrasound to remove tumors. The stereotactic radiosurgery by “gamma knife” is a new technical option to surgery that uses radiant beams that are directed directly and precisely to the tumor. No need scalpel or incision. These new techniques would perhaps remove more cancerous cells and minimize damage to healthy brain tissue around the tumor, decreasing the number of neurological complications.

It is usually impossible to eliminate all cancerous brain cells. If some of them remain, the cancer may recur. It is hoped that in future, experimental treatments such as radioactive implants (implanted inside tumors) and some new forms of immune therapy or gene therapy allow for better treatment of brain cancer.

The presence of the above symptoms may lead a physician to suspect brain cancer. A CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are the first examinations to be performed to properly diagnose a brain cancer, whatever the type. These specialized radiological examinations can detect many types of brain tumors and determine their location and size accurately. However, they do not determine whether the tumor is cancerous or not.

We must perform a biopsy to determine if the tumor is cancerous. For this, we take a sample of the tumor during surgery. If the tumor is too deep in the brain, surgeons can use a technique called Stereotactic biopsy or establishment of the needle through three-dimensional approach. This technique uses an MRI to create a three dimensional image of the brain that are then used to guide a needle contained in a special case to the appropriate region of the brain. It sucks and is collected tumor cells in the needle for analysis. Once collected, we analyze the biopsy sample using microscopes and special chemicals to determine the type of tumor. It usually takes several days before obtaining the results of a biopsy.

We may sometimes collect cells of brain tumors in Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a special fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. CSF samples are taken using a thin needle that is inserted in the lower back under local anesthesia, this procedure is called a lumbar puncture. We can do this procedure when too much pressure accumulates in the brain. Indeed, the pressure change resulting from the brain drain may cause aspiration of part of the brain tissue at the base of the skull, causing serious complications.