Brain cancer is mainly resulted due to the formation of abnormal cells inside the brain. There are two types of Brain Tumors- benign tumors and malignant/cancerous tumors. It means that all brain tumors are not cancerous but only the malignant type.
Malignant tumors are more divided by primary tumors which form inside the brain and secondary tumors which originate from elsewhere inside the body. The latter type is also described as brain metastasis tumors.
A risk factor of brain cancer is anything which may increase the probability of developing a tumor in one’s brain. While risk factors have a role to play in developing it, most of them do not really cause it. People with different risk factors may never develop a brain tumor while those with none may do.
Some of the common risk factors are:
Gender: Males are more easily prone to develop brain cancer than females; though certain types of it, for instance meningioma, are common only within women.
Age: Though brain tumors are common among older adults and children, however anybody may develop them at any age.
Exposures: The risk of developing brain tumors increases when exposed to pesticides, solvents, rubber, vinyl chloride and oil products.
Family History: Nearly 5% of brain tumors may be caused due to hereditary factors, such as neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis and Li-Fraumeni syndrome.
Seizures and head injury: Serious head injury often result in the development of brain tumors.
The symptoms of brain tumors differ depending on the type of tumor and its size, location and growth rate. The usual symptoms include:
Difficulty in sleeping
Doctors need to follow a lot of test procedures to diagnose a brain tumor and its type. They also do many tests to identify whether or not the tumor has spread to a different part of the body, which is known as metastasis.
The following things are considered by doctors to decide on the type of the diagnostic test:
Patient’s signs and symptoms
Patient’s age and health condition
Type of the tumor suspected
Doctors conduct different types of tests depending on the aforementioned factors. Some of these include:
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): It is used to have a in depth image of the body and measure the size of the tumor. If a tumor is found, tissue of the tumor is collected through surgery or biopsy in order to identify its type.
CT scan: Unlike MRI which uses magnetic field, CT scan provides a 3D picture of the total human body through X-rays. This helps to identify bleeding inside the brain and changes to bone inside the skull.
Lumbar puncture: In this system, doctors take a sample of CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) through a needle to recognize tumor cells or biomarkers. Biomarkers are materials present in the urine, spinal fluid, or other fluids of people with a certain type of cancer.
Vision, neurological and hearing tests: These tests are normally done to determine whether or not the tumor is affecting the functioning of the brain.
Treatment of Brain Cancer
Upon diagnosing a brain tumor, a medical team is formed to decide the possible treatment options. There are some treatment options available to get rid of it, including:
Surgery: It involves resetting the tumor either in part or completely.
Chemotherapy: Drugs are administered here to do away with tumor cells, though they may have side effects
Radiotherapy: This is the most usual treatment option where the tumor is cracked with gamma rays or x-ray
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