Lab Tests Of Biopsy Specimens
Finding out which type of tumor someone has is very important in helping to determine their outlook and treatment options. But in recent years, doctors have found that changes in certain genes, chromosomes, or proteins within the cancer cells can also be important. Some tumors are now tested for these types of changes. For example:
- Gliomas that are found to have IDH1 or IDH2 gene mutations tend to have a better outlook than gliomas without these gene mutations.
- In high-grade gliomas, the presence of MGMT promoter methylation is linked with better outcomes and a higher likelihood of responding to chemotherapy.
What Are The Treatments For Benign And Cancerous Brain Tumors
People with brain tumors have several treatment options. The options are surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Many people get a combination of treatments.
The choice of treatment depends mainly are:
- The type and grade of brain tumor
- Its location in the brain
- Its size
- Your age and general health
For some types of brain cancer, the doctor also needs to know whether cancer cells were found in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Your doctor can describe your treatment choices, the expected results, and the possible side effects. Because cancer therapy often damages healthy cells and tissues, side effects are common. Before treatment starts, ask your health care team about possible side effects and how treatment may change your normal activities. You and your health care team can work together to develop a treatment plan that meets your medical and personal needs.
You may want to talk with your doctor about taking part in a clinical trial, a research study of new treatment methods. See the Taking Part in Cancer Research section.
Your doctor may refer you to a specialist, or you may ask for a referral. Specialists who treat brain tumors include neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and neuroradiologists.
Questions to ask your doctor before having brain tumor treatment
Can you recommend other doctors who could give me a second opinion about my treatment options? How often should I have checkups?
What Are The Symptoms Of A Brain Tumour
Brain tumours have a range of symptoms, depending on where the tumour is, how big it is and what type of tumour it is. Some symptoms may also be caused by the treatments used to manage the tumour. Slow growing brain tumours may not have any symptoms to start with.
Many brain tumour symptoms and brain cancer symptoms are similar to those of other diseases and conditions.
Symptoms include:
- dizziness or loss of consciousness
- changes to your personality and how you behave, e.g. irritability
- changes to how you think
- endocrine dysfunction
You may notice other signs, like memory problems or difficulty speaking or remembering words.
Read more about brain tumours, including symptoms, in the Cancer Councils guide ‘Understanding brain tumours’.
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Brain Tumor Causes And Risk Factors
Doctors donât know why some cells begin to form into tumor cells. It may have something to do with a personâs genes or his or her environment, or both. Some potential brain tumor causes and risk factors may include:
- Cancers that spread from other parts of the body
- Certain genetic conditions that predispose a person to overproduction of certain cells
- Exposure to some forms of radiation
How Common Are Brain Tumors And Are They Dangerous
In the United States, brain and nervous system tumors affect about 30 adults out of 100,000. Brain tumors are dangerous because they can put pressure on healthy parts of the brain or spread into those areas. Some brain tumors can also be cancerous or become cancerous. They can cause problems if they block the flow of fluid around the brain, which can lead to an increase in pressure inside the skull. Some types of tumors can spread through the spinal fluid to distant areas of the brain or the spine.
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How Brain Tumors Are Diagnosed And Treated
Primary central nervous system tumors begin in the brain or spinal cord. About 24,000 people are diagnosed a year with a primary CNS cancer. A brain tumor diagnosis can be very isolating but finding a doctor who has experience treating brain tumors can give you peace of mind when making treatment decisions. You can share our treatment information and resources to educate people living with a brain tumor and improve care.
Causes And Risk Factors For Brain Cancer
The exact cause of brain cancer is unknown. However, factors that can increase your risk of brain cancer include exposure to high doses of ionizing radiation and a family history of brain cancer.
Cancer in another part of your body is also a risk factor for developing a tumor in the brain, though these arent called brain cancer. They are cancers that have spread to the brain.
Cancers that commonly spread, or metastasize, to the brain include:
- melanoma, which is a type of skin cancer
Other factors that might be related to developing brain cancer include:
- increased age
- long-term smoking
- exposure to pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer
- working with elements that can cause cancer, such as lead, plastic, rubber, petroleum, and some textiles
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Ctca Approach To Helping You Maintain Your Quality Of Life
At CTCA, we know that brain cancer may present unique challenges, including motor and speech impacts. Thats why our neurosurgeons often use nerve-monitoring technology during brain surgery to help ensure your motor function is not damaged during the procedure.
Your care team will also offer a variety of supportive care services to help address these issues throughout your care, so youre better able to continue treatment without delay.
The pain management physician on your team, for example, may recommend over-the-counter or prescription medication for pain. They may also introduce implanted pain pumps and nerve-block therapies as options. The pain management team works with our rehabilitation services and other supportive care therapies, including speech and language pathologists, to coordinate treatment and therapy recommendations.
Because your care team works all under one roof, they coordinated daily and can tweak treatment plans as needed in real time.
Primary Vs Metastatic Brain Tumors
Primary brain tumors are tumors that start in the brain. Examples of tumors that most often originate in the brain include meningioma and glioma. Very rarely, these tumors can break away and spread to other parts of the brain and spinal cord. More commonly, tumors spread to the brain from other parts of the body.
Metastatic brain tumors, also called secondary brain tumors, are malignant tumors that originate as cancer elsewhere in the body and then metastasize to the brain. Metastatic brain tumors are about four times more common than primary brain tumors. They can grow rapidly, crowding or invading nearby brain tissue.
Common cancers that can spread to the brain are:
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Medical Condition Risk Factors
A minority of brain tumors occur due to genetic hereditary conditions or certain medical conditions. These disorders include von Hippel-Lindau disease, neurofibromatosis, tuberous sclerosis, Turcot syndrome, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, and nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. Sometimes multiple people in a family are afflicted with brain tumors due to genetic conditions that run occur in families. Medical conditions that cause a weakened immune system, like AIDS, also increase the risk of a brain tumor.
What You Need To Know
- Brain tumors are the most common solid tumors affecting children and adolescents, with close to 5,000 children diagnosed each year.
- Because of their location, some pediatric brain tumors and their required treatments can cause significant long-term impairment to intellectual and neurological function.
- Some forms of brain cancer can be life-threatening.
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How Is Brain Cancer Treated
There are several treatments for brain cancer. Treatment for primary brain cancer will be different from treatment for cancers that have metastasized from other sites.
You may receive one or more treatments depending on the type, size, and location of your brain tumor. Your age and general health are also factors.
Treatments include:
Diagnosis Of Brain And Spinal Cord Tumours
Diagnosis is the process of finding out the cause of a health problem. Diagnosing a brain or spinal cord tumour usually begins with a visit to your family doctor. Your doctor will ask you about any symptoms you have and may do a physical exam. Based on this information, your doctor may refer you to a specialist or order tests to check for a brain or spinal cord tumour or other health problems.
The process of diagnosis may seem long and frustrating. Its normal to worry, but try to remember that other health conditions can cause similar symptoms as brain or spinal cord tumours. Its important for the healthcare team to rule out other reasons for a health problem before making a diagnosis of a brain or spinal cord tumour.
The following tests are commonly used to rule out or diagnose a brain or spinal cord tumour. Many of the same tests used to diagnose cancer are used to find out the stage . Your doctor may also order other tests to check your general health and to help plan your treatment.
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After A Diagnosis Of Brain Cancer
After finding out you have brain cancer, you may feel shocked, upset, anxious or confused. These are normal responses. A diagnosis of brain cancer affects each person differently. For most it will be a difficult time, however some people manage to continue with their normal daily activities.
Your specialist will arrange for a range of health professionals to plan your treatment. This will be based on several factors including the type, size, location and genetic make-up of the cancer as well as, your age and general health, the types of symptoms you have and your needs and preferences.
Find out more about the best cancer care for brain cancer:
What Are The Different Types Of Brain Tumors
The different types of brain tumors include the following:
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Brain Tumors In All Pediatric Populations
- Approximately 6% of all brain tumors occur in the pediatric population
- Approximately 1.8% of all brain tumors occur in the adolescent population of pediatric brain tumor patients
Brain Or Spinal Cord Tumor Biopsy
Imaging tests such as MRI and CT scans may show an abnormal area that is likely to be a brain or spinal cord tumor. But these scans cant always tell exactly what type of tumor it is. Often this can only be done by removing some of the tumor tissue in a procedure called a biopsy. A biopsy may be done as a procedure on its own, or it may be part of surgery to remove the tumor.
Sometimes, a tumor may look so characteristically obvious on an MRI scan that a biopsy is not needed, especially if the tumor is in a part of the brain that would make it hard to biopsy . In rare cases a PET scan or MR spectroscopy may give enough information so that a biopsy is not needed.
The 2 main types of biopsies for brain tumors are:
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What Is Secondary Brain Cancer
Approximately 200,000 to 300,000 people per year in the U.S. suffer from tumors that start elsewhere in the body and then spread, or metastasize, to the brain. Approximately 50% of cancers found in the brain begin as lung cancer that later spreads to other organs including the brain. Other cancers that may spread to the brain include those of the colon, breast, kidney, and melanoma, a potentially deadly type of skin cancer. At least 80% of tumors in the brain occur as multiple growths in the brain. Another 10% to 20% of tumors that have metastasized to the brain are single tumors.
Symptoms Of A Brain Tumour
The symptoms of a brain tumour vary depending on the exact part of the brain affected.
Common symptoms include:
- persistently feeling sick , being sick and drowsiness
- mental or behavioural changes, such as memory problems or changes in personality
- progressive weakness or paralysis on one side of the body
- vision or speech problems
Sometimes you may not have any symptoms to begin with, or they may develop very slowly over time.
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What Causes Brain Tumors
The majority of brain tumors have abnormalities of genes involved in cell cycle control, causing uncontrolled cell growth. These abnormalities are caused by alterations directly in the genes, or by chromosome rearrangements which change the function of a gene.
Patients with certain genetic conditions also have an increased risk to develop tumors of the central nervous system. There have also been some reports of children in the same family developing brain tumors who do not have any of these genetic syndromes.
Some chemicals may change the structure of a gene that protects the body from diseases and cancer. Research has been investigating parents of children with brain tumors and their past exposure to certain chemicals, including pesticides and petroleum products.
Children who have received radiation therapy to the head as part of prior treatment for other malignancies are also at an increased risk for new brain tumors.
Types Of Brain Tumours
Brain tumours can either be primary or secondary.
- A primary brain tumour is a tumour that has started in the brain.
- A secondary brain tumour is a cancer from elsewhere in the body that has spread or metastasised to the brain.
There are many types of brain tumours. Together with tumours of the spinal cord, they are collectively called central nervous system tumours.
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How A Brain Tumor Is Diagnosed
Imaging tests can help doctors find out if the tumor is a primary brain tumor or if it is cancer that has spread to the brain from elsewhere in the body. Imaging tests show pictures of the inside of the body. Your doctor may consider these factors when choosing a diagnostic test:
The type of tumor suspected
Your signs and symptoms
Your age and general health
The results of earlier medical tests
Most brain tumors are diagnosed after symptoms appear. Often a brain tumor is first diagnosed by an internist or a neurologist. An internist is a doctor who specializes in treating adults. A neurologist is a doctor who specializes in problems with the brain and central nervous system.
In addition to asking the patient for a detailed medical history and doing a physical examination, the doctor may recommend the tests described below. These tests are to help find out the presence, and sometimes the type or grade, of a brain tumor.
In general, diagnosing a brain tumor usually begins with magnetic resonance imaging . Once MRI shows that there is a tumor in the brain, the most common way to determine the type of brain tumor is to look at the results from a sample of tissue after a biopsy or surgery. These tests and procedures are described below in more detail.
Your health care team may also recommend other tests to help make a diagnosis or find out how well treatment is working. Not all tests described here will be used for every person.
What Is A Brain Tumour
A brain tumour is a lump of abnormal cells growing in your brain. Your brain controls all the parts of your body and its functions and produces your thoughts. Depending on where it is, a tumour in your brain can affect these functions.
When cells grow abnormally they may form a lump called a tumour. Tumours can be benign or malignant.
A benign tumour grows slowly and stays in one place. It is unlikely to spread to another part of your body.
Benign tumours are not cancerous. But a benign brain tumour may cause damage just by being there and pressing on your brain or nearby structures. This can be life-threatening, or affect other parts of your body, and may need urgent treatment.
A malignant tumour is cancerous. It can spread to other areas of your brain, or your body. It can also be called brain cancer.
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