BRAIN TUMOR AWARENESS DAY

BRAIN TUMOR is probably one of the most HEARD and FEARED cancers out there, However, it’s important to understand that with every scary command on the topic WE STILL HAVE A WAY OUT, it can be curable with timely intervention and proper treatment as suggested by expert treating clinicians.

A brain tumor is a mass or growth of abnormal cells in your brain. Many different types of brain tumors exist. Some brain tumors are noncancerous (benign), and some brain tumors are cancerous (malignant). Brain tumors can begin in your brain (primary brain tumors), or cancer can begin in other parts of your body and spread to your brain as secondary (metastatic) brain tumors.

Brain tumorcan increase the pressure inside our skull by affecting and spreading into the healthy parts of the brain causing it to slow or sometimes shut down completely. We might often hear about someone having a brain tumor and it can freak us out completely. In India alone, there are over 1 million cases per year which explains the panic it may cause.

How quickly a brain tumor grows can vary greatly. The growth rate, as well as the location of a brain tumor, determines how it will affect the function of your nervous system.

Signs and Symptoms of Brain Tumor Includes:

• New onset or change in the pattern of headaches
• Headaches that gradually become more frequent and more severe
• Unexplained nausea or vomiting
• Vision problems, such as blurred vision, double vision, or loss of peripheral vision
• Gradual loss of sensation or movement in an arm or a leg
• Difficulty with balance
• Speech difficulties
• Feeling very tired
• Confusion in everyday matters
• Difficulty making decisions
• Inability to follow simple commands
• Personality or behaviour changes
• Seizures, especially in someone who doesn’t have a history of seizures
• Hearing problems

If you or anyone you know is facing any of the above-mentioned symptoms, kindly, direct towards a professional for a better overview of your condition.

Cause of Brain Tumor:

• Primary brain tumors begin when normal cells develop changes (mutations) in their DNA.
• In secondary brain tumors, the cancer begins elsewhere and spreads to the brain.
• Secondary (metastatic) brain tumors are tumors that result from cancer that starts elsewhere in your body and then spreads (metastasizes) to your brain.

Risk Factors:
There are mostly 2 major risk factors that can be considered in the brain tumors due to their unpredictability.

• Exposure to radiation. People who have been exposed to a type of radiation called ionizing radiation have an increased risk of brain tumors. Examples of ionizing radiation include radiation therapy used to treat cancer and radiation exposure caused by atomic bombs.
• Family history of brain tumors. A small portion of brain tumors occurs in people with a family history of brain tumors or a family history of genetic syndromes that increase the risk of brain tumors.

Treatment For Brain Tumor includes:
(If we talk about different types of treatment in regard to any type of cancer, few of the listed alternatives remain the same considering their effectiveness.)

●     Surgery

If the brain tumoris located in a place that makes it accessible for an operation, your surgeon will work to remove as much of the brain tumor as can be done safely.

●     Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy uses high-energy beams, such as X-rays or protons, to kill tumor cells. Radiation therapy can come from a machine outside your body (external beam radiation), or, very rarely, radiation can be placed inside your body close to your brain tumor (brachytherapy).

●     Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill tumor cells. Chemotherapy drugs can be taken orally in pill form or injected into a vein (intravenously).

●     Targeted Therapy

Targeted drug treatments focus on specific abnormalities present within cancer cells. By blocking these abnormalities, targeted drug treatments can cause cancer cells to die.

●     Rehabilitation after Treatment

Because brain tumors can develop in parts of the brain that control motor skills, speech, vision and thinking, rehabilitation may be a necessary part of recovery. Depending on your needs, your doctor may refer you to:

• Physiotherapy to help you regain lost motor skills or muscle strength
• Occupational therapy to help you get back to your normal daily activities, including work, after a brain tumor or other illness
• Speech therapy with specialists in speech difficulties (speech pathologists) to help if you have difficulty speaking.

As daunting and challenging as it sounds Brain tumors can be cured considering the overall efficiency of time frame and treatment. As far as the precaution goes linked with a brain tumor, you can’t really prevent it from happening. However, you can reduce the risk of cancer by avoiding environmental hazards such as smoking and excessive radiation exposure.

The objective of the above article is making the reader aware of Brain Tumor. If you and any of your known persons, show any signs of symptoms, it is always advisable to meet your treating clinician. As stated, timely intervention can help in better treatment outcomes.