Brain Cancer Treatment

Brain cancer treatment involves several things like surgery, chemotherapy etc.

A tumor in the brain may either be a malignant one or a benign tumor.

Majority of the tumors in the brain are not malignant but if they are proved to be so than it is really a life threatening.

Cancerous or malignant tumor in the brain is rather a complicated issue to tackle in terms of treatment and curing methods.

The brain cancer is very frightening as it impairs the normal activity and the health of the affected to the extreme. Some types of this disease are less aggressive than the others the fact remains that all types of brain cancers disrupt the person metabolism and body control. Brain cancer treatment is very important as brain cancer can be life threatening, particularly if left untreated.

Brain cancer is of two types particularly the primary and the secondary brain tumors. These differ in their origin and affect. Before knowing the various brain cancer treatment methods, it is better for you to know the various causes of brain cancer.

Cause of Brain Cancer

The exact cause of brain cancer or developing brain tumors is not known but many factors are associated with the chances of developing the disease. Any radiation given for treating the brain tumors may result to brain cancer in due course of time.

Environmental factors such as exposure to certain chemicals and gases have been linked with the high risk of developing the disease or one of the cause of brain cancer. Research still goes on to prove whether certain viruses are also responsible for causing the disease or not.

No clear evidence states that brain cancer is anywhere linked with cellular phones, power lines, or aspartame. Either at young age less than 12 or more than 40 years people are affected.

Sometimes apart from these environmental, viruses, heredity also plays a role in developing the brain cancer. (Are Cell Phones And Brain Cancer Connected?)

Brain Cancer Treatment

The standard brain cancer treatment methods include the surgery, chemotherapy and the radiation therapy. But before actually starting any of these brain cancer treatment methods the basic brain cancer treatment includes administration of steroid medications to reduce swelling and inflammation of brain tissue. To prevent or control seizures anticonvulsant medications may help to a certain extent.

Surgery

Surgery is the brain cancer treatment method which helps remove either the entire tumor or the part of the tumor. This helps to minimize the damage to the healthy tissue. If the brain cancer has end up in building up of fluid in the brain then the doctor may surgically remove the fluid using the shunt which is placed in the brain to collect the fluid following a perfect process.

The brain tumor which is removed through surgery then sent for biopsy to study the stage and grade of the tumor to further proceed with the brain cancer treatment.

Radiation Therapy

In brain cancer radiation therapy, the radiation is delivered either by a machine outside the body which is the external radiation or the internal radiation therapy in which small radioactive pellets are implanted in the tumor.

The duration taken for external radiation therapy is few to several weeks. In internal radiation therapy the patients may often stay in the hospital for a few days while the radiation is strongest.

Another method of radiation therapy is treating some tumors by a single, large dose of radiation coming from many different directions. This type of brain cancer treatment is called stereotactic radiosurgery. This technique is beneficial in way as it targets the tumor more precisely sparing damage to normal tissue.

Chemotherapy

The administration of chemotherapy is either through orally or through injections which may be given intravenously like in any other cancer treatment and also sometimes may be intrathecally meaning the injected into the cerebrospinal fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord.