Cancer - this word sounds like a sentence. Having heard a terrible diagnosis for the first time, the patient thinks that life has already ended. But any person tends to hope for the best, and he is looking for an answer to the question: is brain cancer treated? Is it possible to live with such an ailment?
How does brain cancer qualify
A brain tumor is a neoplasm that can have a different etiology and differ in class: be primary and secondary.
Primary tumors
Primary tumors originate in the brain itself, and do not metastasize from other organs.
Benign neoplasms are localized in one part of the brain, while they do not destroy surrounding tissues, do not metastasize and do not spread throughout the human body.
The good quality of the tumor is determined by the slow growth rate. And, as a rule, the symptoms depend on the location. So, this can be expressed in attacks of headaches, epileptic seizures, hearing or vision loss.
Quite often, these tumors are asymptomatic and are detected incidentally duringmagnetic resonance imaging examination.
In some cases, tumor removal is not possible. For example, in the vicinity of vital brain structures. Very often, after removal, the disease relapses. Then radiation therapy or resection is performed.
Malignant neoplasms
A tumor of this kind can spread to nearby he althy tissues and destroy them. In brain cancer, pathology has a detrimental effect not only on the brain, but also on other organs and cells of the body.
Malignant tumors grow very quickly and make themselves felt only in the last stages, when their removal is not possible. Is there a cure for brain cancer? Perhaps with early detection and timely treatment.
Secondary tumors
A secondary tumor is commonly referred to as the spread of cancer cells from other affected organs. Three times more common than primary is secondary brain cancer. How long they live with it depends on how actively metastases attack the brain.
As a rule, metastases penetrate into the brain in cancer of the breast, skin, kidneys, lungs.
Is brain cancer treated in a secondary process? With this form, the chances are negligible, since metastases have already begun.
Types of brain tumors
Depending on the location, there is the following classification of neoplasms:
- Glioma. The tumor develops from glial cells in the brain. Such a tumor has 4 stages and is most often found in men and children. Gliomas include oligodendroglioma, epindymoma, and mixed glioma.
- Meningioma is mostly benign.
- Medulloblastoma is a malignant neoplasm that mainly affects children.
- Central nervous system lymphoma is a neoplasm of malignant etiology that affects the lymphatic system.
- Pituitary tumor - adenoma. A tumor with a benign course.
- Tumor of the pineal gland, epiphysis. A malignant neoplasm that makes itself felt only at stage 4, when it is impossible to perform a resection operation. Is it possible to cure brain cancer in this course? The chances of recovery are slim.
- Hemangioblastomas are lesions of blood vessels by benign neoplasms.
- Neurinoma - damage to the auditory nerve by a benign tumor.
- Tumors of the spinal cord.
Causes of brain cancer
The exact causes of brain cancer have not yet been established, but there are a number of risk factors for its occurrence. These include:
- Gender. Men get sick more often than women.
- Age. Most often, a brain tumor can be observed in people over 65. Characteristically, children under the age of 8 are also at risk.
- Ethnicity. Compared with others, representatives of the CaucasoidRaces are twice as likely to get cancer. For example, glioma is typical for people with white skin.
- He alth status. An important cause of brain cancer is diseases of the immune system. For example, HIV infection, organ and tissue transplants, conditions after chemotherapy.
- Chemicals. People working in hazardous industries suffer from brain tumors much more often.
- Heredity. The risk of getting sick increases if one of the relatives had brain cancer.
- Environment and radiation. People working with radioactive materials are at risk for neoplasms. Researchers have recently concluded that household appliances and the proximity of high-voltage power lines can influence the development of brain tumors, as they generate electromagnetic fields that can change the structure of cells.
But cellular and mobile phones are recognized as safe and do not affect the structure of gray matter.
How brain cancer manifests
What does brain cancer look like and how does it manifest itself? The symptoms of brain cancer vary and depend on the location of the tumor. With primary (focal) signs of the disease, compression and destruction of brain tissue in the area of the neoplasm occurs.
When the tumor progresses, cerebral symptoms also appear, in which hemodynamics are disturbed and intracranial pressure increases.
Focal symptoms
The following lesions are distinguished, which depend on the localization of the process:
- Motor disorders in the form of paralysis and paresis. There is a decrease in muscle activity, dysfunction of the limbs.
- Violation of sensitivity. In humans, it decreases or completely disappears. He does not respond to external stimuli: cold, pain or tactile touch. Very often there is a violation of the ability to determine the position of the limbs relative to the body.
- Violation of speech recognition and hearing. Occurs when the auditory nerve is damaged.
- Epileptic seizures. Observed with congestive foci of excitation in the cerebral cortex.
- Impaired vision. When the tumor compresses the optic nerve or its location near the quadrigemina, partial or complete loss of vision occurs.
- Speech disorder. Absence or partial presence of slurred speech.
- Hormonal imbalance.
- Autonomic disorders: fatigue, constant tiredness, dizziness, pressure and pulse fluctuations.
- Disorder of coordination. When the cerebellum is damaged, the gait changes, the patient cannot make precise movements.
- Memory is disturbed, irritability appears, character changes. As the process progresses, complete disorientation in time and loss of one's own personality sets in.
Cerebral symptoms
Symptoms occur due to increased intracranial pressure and compression of the brain by a tumor.
- Headaches. They are permanent and intense and practically do not stop.
- Nausea and vomiting haunts the patient constantly, asthere is a constant squeezing of the vomiting center in the midbrain.
- Dizziness appears when the tumor presses on the cerebellum.
Treatment for brain cancer
All patients, coming to the hospital with such a diagnosis, ask themselves the question: is brain cancer treated? High-quality treatment implies a complex of expensive technological clinical measures. Not in all cases, unfortunately, it is curable. It all depends on the degree of brain cancer and its type.
Symptomatic treatment
These groups of drugs greatly alleviate the patient's condition, but do not eliminate the main cause of the disease.
- Sedatives.
- Glucocorticosteroids help reduce cerebral symptoms.
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs help with pain relief.
- Narcotic analgesics are used for severe pain, vomiting and psychomotor agitation.
- Antiemetics.
Surgical treatment
This is the most effective way to treat cancer. A neurosurgeon excised a tumor along he althy tissues. Can brain cancer be cured? It all depends on the location and stage of the tumor. In practice, the operation is effective only at stage 1. At the next stages of the disease, the treatment tactics are different. In particular, radiation therapy is used.
Radiation therapy
Can brain cancer be treated with radiation therapy? Of course, because such therapy is necessary to stop the growth of pathological cells. It is heldalso before and after surgery.
Chemotherapy
Usually, this treatment is prescribed when the tumor is in the last stage and is inoperable. The dose and type of specific drugs for each patient is calculated individually.
Forecast
Is there a cure for brain cancer? It is treated, but only with timely detection. After completing the course of treatment, recovery occurs in 60-80%. If a person turns up too late, then the chance of recovery is less than 30%.
