Among the deadly ailments people suffer from, Brain tumor deserves special mention. The tumor stems from the brain cells in a human body in case of a Primary brain tumor. On the other hand, secondary or derived brain tumors occur in the instances when the cancerous cells from lung, breasts or other body parts reach the brain. The majority of the brain tumor cases are caused by the latter where the cancerous cells use the blood streams to spread to brain.
Brain tumorcan be divided into certain categories. One variant is meningioma which stems from the cover of the human brain. This can be removed and cured by surgery. There is another variant called astrocytoma that can prove to be deadly. The classification system, introduced by WHO in 1993, is generally practiced in diagnosing brain tumor types. The incidence of children being infected with brain tumor is on the rise in the USA .
Brain Tumor Symptoms
As a matter of fact, people suffering from Brain tumor can develop a number of symptoms and it is subject to the brain part that is infected. There are however some common symptoms. As the tumor grows in dimension, it creates pressure on the skull which in medical terms is known as raised intracranial pressure. The affected person feels chronic headache and nausea. He may also get fits and visual problems. Even though these symptoms can stem from other ailments as well, they need to be inspected by the doctor if they continue.
There are some other symptoms that depend on the affected side of the brain. In some cases the affected person may feel weakness or numbness on one side. His mindset may also be affected. The smelling sense may not work normally. The person may also face difficulty in doing commonplace tasks as writing, speaking and drawing. The most prominent sign is an infected patient getting fits of epilepsy when he has no genetic or hereditary link with the disease.
Usually MRI and CT scan is used in diagnosing cases of Brain tumor. Sometimes tests like EEG are also prescribed by the doctors. Some instances of mild tumors may remain undetected for years.
What Causes Brain Tumor
Unfortunately the causes behind the occurrence of Brain Tumor still remain unclear. One usual suspect is the excess ionizing radiation given to head. Certain genetic reasons can also play a role. A theory also points at the increased use of electronic devices like cell phones that radiate electromagnetic waves. However, there are debates in the medical community itself regarding the prospect of developing tumor from exposure to EMF. However, people whose job demands exposing them to prolonged EMF radiation, face increased risk of developing brain cancer according to some recent studies.
Brain Tumor Treatments
Brain tumor s lead to cancer and similar to other forms of cancer, the major three kinds of treatment are radiation, surgery and chemotherapy. The location of the tumor, the nature of the affected cells and other health issues determine what kind of treatment will be applied in a case. With the present advancements in the spheres of medical science, it is now possible to perform surgery in some complicated brain tumor cases, which was previously impossible.
Usually, chemotherapy and Radiotherapy are employed to treat the cases of inaccessible and malignant tumors. In some cases, the doctors can administer steroid drugs to check swelling of the tumor inside the skull.
Among the newest therapies available for treating brain tumor cases, the research on VSV virus is worth mentioning. This year some researchers in Yale University saw that the VSV-Virus can effectively eliminate brain tumors without impacting the healthy cells. The virus was known previously for its cancer cell destroying attributes. An experiment with mice involving this virus has proved to be successful. However, further researches will be carried out to check the effectiveness of this virus in the human body. No other virus is known to be as effective as this virus and researchers hope that in the near future human beings will be benefited from it.
