Nuclear Oncology

Archive for the ‘Brain Tumors’ Category

Various treatments are used to treat brain tumors. The type of treatment recommended depends on the size and type of tumor, growth rate and the overall health of the patient. Treatment options include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, targeted biological agents or a combination thereof. Surgical resection (if not dangerous) is usually the first treatment recommendation to reduce the pressure quickly sobe brain. This website focuses on radiation therapy for brain tumors.

In the last two decades, researchers have developed new techniques for delivering radiation to the brain tumor while protecting nearby healthy tissues. These treatments include brachytherapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and radiosurgery.

Radiation therapy may be recommended for tumors sensitive to this treatment. Conventional radiation therapy uses external beams of x-rays, gamma rays or protons to the tumor to kill cancer cells and shrink brain tumors. It is usually given over a period of several weeks. The whole brain radiation therapy is an option for multiple tumors. Read the rest of this entry »

A brain tumor is a group of abnormal cells growing in the brain or around it. Tumors can directly destroy healthy brain cells. They can also indirectly damage to invade other parts of the brain and cause inflammation, brain swelling and pressure inside the skull.

Brain tumors can be malignant or benign. A malignant tumor, also called brain cancer, grows rapidly and often invades the healthy areas of the brain. Benign tumors do not contain cancer cells. Watching them look normal under a microscope, usually grow slowly.

Brain tumors can be of two types: primary or metastatic. Primary brain tumors originate in the brain, and metastatic cancer cells appear when another part of the body spread to the brain. Therefore, metastatic brain tumors are almost always malignant, while primary tumors may be benign or malignant.

Brain tumors are classified according to tumor location, type of tissue involved, if the tumor is benign or malignant, and other factors. If it is determined that a tumor is malignant, the cells are examined under a microscope to determine their degree of malignancy. According to this analysis, tumors classified by their degree of malignancy from least to most malignant. Some factors that determine tumor grade are the growth rate of cells, the amount of blood supplied to the cells, the presence of dead cells in the center of the tumor (necrosis), if cells are confined to a specific area, and the degree of similarity between cancer cells and normal cells. Read the rest of this entry »