Medicine and Health related Information » Brain tumor

Brain tumor Types, Diagnosis and Treatment

dr.faizan — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:55:31 +0000

Brain Tumor Types

Brain tumors are of two kinds.

1. Benign tumors are of slow growing ones, which can be removed or destroyed if present in an accessible location in brain.

2. Malignant tumors (Brain cancer) spread rapidly and destroy normal brain tissue.

Some benign brain tumors may also change over time to become malignant brain tumors. Benign brain tumors can also become as dangerous as malignant brain tumors if they are located in an inaccessible region of brain, such as brain stem. Conversely some malignant brain tumors can be cured.

Brain Tumor Diagnosis

Brain tumors are usually diagnosed with the help of a CT (Computerized topography) scan or CAT scan and in detail with the help of a MRI scan. Sometimes an open biopsy is conducted by removing a piece of skull to get access to brain. Biopsy is the most accurate method of diagnosing a brain tumor.

Brain Tumor Radiation Treatment

Brain tumors are usually treated through surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. In general radiation and chemotherapy are used only when the brain tumor cannot be removed by surgery. It is best to have multidisciplinary team consisting of neurosurgeon, neurologist, radiation oncologist, while treating brain tumors.

A lot depends on the patients, attitude of patients matter a lot in the case of brain tumors. Hope is the powerful coping strategy that helps patients to deal with the pain of the moment by looking into the future.

Symptoms of Brain tumor

dr.faizan — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:50:49 +0000

Brain tumor location influences the type of symptoms that occur, since different functions are controlled by different parts of the brain. The most common Symptoms of Brain Tumors are headaches, nausea and vomiting. These symptoms can be seen mostly in the morning. They are often associated with other symptoms such as seizures or convulsions, difficulty in thinking, speaking, or finding words.

Brain Tumor also effects towards Personality, Paralysis, Memory loss

In certain instances, people with brain tumor also shows personality changes and weakness or paralysis in one side of the body, loss of balance, memory loss and vision changes.
Unfortunately the symptoms are often vague in children, especially in toddlers who are not able to describe them.

Also, many of the above mentioned Brain Tumor Symptoms can occur as part of other childhood ailments and are ignored by parents. However the crucial difference with brain tumors is that the symptoms persists and get worse over time.

Brain tumor

dr.faizan — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 08:49:16 +0000

Most of the people think Brain Tumor as a death sentence but it’s not like that, tumors are quite common but they are discussed only when well known people are detected with one.

One of the most prominent living member of the powerful Kennedy family and the longest serving United States senator was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Chances of survival of patients and the severity of the brain tumor depends on a host of factors including the area of brain involved and the forms of therapy. Brain is an extremely complex organ containing roughly 100 billion neurons, each neuron linked to as many as 10000 other neurons regulating all human activities.

What is Brain Tumor?

Simply stated Brain Tumor is an abnormal mass of tissue in which some cells grow and multiply uncontrollably. As the brain tumor grows it interferes with normal brain activity.

Primary Brain Tumor, Childhood Brain Tumor and Brain Tumor Death

The primary brain tumors originate in the brain itself. Secondary brain tumors originate as cancer in another part of the body and are carried to the brain through blood. Brain tumors are not to be taken lightly since they are leading cause of death from childhood cancers among persons upto 19 years of age.

Brain tumors are also the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in men aged between 20 and 39 and the fifth leading cause of cancer related deaths in women age group of 20 to 39.