What Is Brain Cancer Treatments
The brain is comprised of millions of cells and these cells start forming right after the third month of conception, until the age of seven years. After the brain cells stop dividing, they are not supposed to divide again, and their division is under strict control. However, when the control goes astray even in a single cell, the cell may start dividing uncontrollably and the researches on cancer show that a rapidly dividing cell that doesn’t have any regulators to stop it start making more and more copies leading to formation of a tumor (this malignant tissue has cells which are cancerous), and this is known as cancer. A tumor can be malignant if it consists of cancer cells or because of its location. A malignant tumor comprising of cancerous cells can spread to other parts in the brain or spinal cord, thereby destroying the healthy tissue. Brain cancer treatments are composed of several combinations of treatments to effectively fight the disease. Some of them are listed here…
Surgery: Brain tumors include all those tumors which are present in the cranium or the central nervous system. The tumors which are not located near the vital parts of brain that involve vision or breathing regulation are known as low grade tumors and can be removed surgically. Surgery is done on primary brain tumors, and is often followed by radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is done to eliminate even the smallest traces of tumor. In some cases chemotherapy is also done for effective brain cancer treatments.
Radiation Therapy: If a person has multiple tumors, then whole brain radiation therapy is considered. This type of treatment requires 20-40 sessions over a period of 4-6 weeks. Also mid- and high-grade tumors (which grow more rapidly than low-grade ones), have to be surgically removed followed by radiation therapy. These tumors have a tendency to spread into the surrounding tissues making it difficult for doctors to remove them during surgical procedure. If the tumor is inoperable, it is treated completely by radiation therapy.
Chemotherapy: Brain cancer treatments involving chemotherapy are done orally or via IV. The risk factors involved in this type of treatment are that even the normal tissues are destroyed along with the cancer cells. Thus a patient might suffer from side effects like severe nausea, vomiting, fatigue and weight loss. Chemotherapy is usually given after surgery or after radiation therapy. It is most effective for mid-grade tumors. Patients who are categorized as “high risk patients” are given chemotherapy as a part of an initial treatment. Even patients whose diagnosis says ‘recurrent malignancy’ require a second surgery which is again followed by chemotherapy.
Radio Surgery: This treatment has emerged as an alternative to surgery. Through this the tumor can be treated within 1-5 sessions only by delivering high doses of radiation accurately. For this, it is important to know the exact location of the brain tumor, but patients find it uncomfortable and painful.
The rate of incidence of brain tumors is very low, being 8.2 per 100,000 for primary ones, while it is 8.3 per 100,000 for metastatic ones. Often it is difficult to diagnose brain tumors due to any particular symptom. This is because symptoms associated with brain tumor often mimic the symptoms of other diseases. However, there are brain cancer treatments for both primary and metastatic brain tumors. The key to treating them lies in early detection.
