6 HEALTH

Thursday June 16, 2011

Head

rain tumour is a potentially devastating condition and is recognised as fatal. Recent advances in treatment of brain tumours have made it possible that this disease can be treated and cured in a number of cases. The result of the treatment depends on how early it is diagnosed and treated.

Brain tumour is no longer incurable thanks to advances in medical technology

Alert!

What is brain tumour? When people speak of brain tumour, they mean any intracranial tumour. We, will also refer to all intracranial tumours as brain tumour. Brain tumours create problems in the following ways: 1) By occupying a large space and causing pressure inside the head to rise 2) By damaging local parts of the brain 3) By compression on the brain and/or nerves 4) By irritating the brain. Who are at risk of suffering from brain tumours? People of every age are vulnerable to brain tumours. In fact, the second commonest tumour in children is that of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). However, apart from a very few cases it is difficult to predict who can develop tumours. Consequently, there is no special way of preventing them. What are the symptoms ? Although headache is the commonest symptom, it is not absolutely an essential one. Although the reason of headache is likely due to rise of pressure inside the head, most do not have the typical features of headache caused by raised pressure inside the head. The features of typical headache caused by rise of pressure inside the head are: increased headache early in the morning or getting up from sleep, associated nausea or vomiting at the peak of headache, and relief of headache after vomiting. Apart from headache, there may be seizure, dimness of vision, double vision, facial numbness, facial weakness, hearing problems, swallowing problems, speech problems, limb weakness or numbness, difficulty in balance, hormonal problems like cessation of menstrual period, appearance of breast milk in a non-lactating woman, etc. How is it detected? If a brain tumour is suspected, the way to detect the tumour is to do a CT scan with contrast or MRI scan of brain with contrast. Sometimes both are necessary. In some selected cases additional investigations, like angiogram, SPECT, functional MRI, visual test, hormonal tests are necessary. Can brain tumour be treated? Yes, it can be treated here itself. There are three modalities of

treatment. 1) Operation remains the mainstay of treatment of brain tumour and has a number of goals: a) To reduce pressure inside the head, b) To release pressure from the brain, nerves and vessels, c) To have a histological diagnosis (biopsy), d) To reduce the tumour load in cases of cancer. Mostly the operations are done under general anaesthesia, but in some special situations, it can be done under local anaesthesia as well. Modern tumour surgery is done with the help of microscope and a number of modern gadgets like endoscope, neuronavigation, CUSA. Overall, brain tumour surgery has become much safer than it was in yesteryears. 2) Radiation is given as a supportive treatment. However, there is a special form of radiation (Gamma Knife Radiosurgery) which is used as a primary modality as well. 3) Chemotherapy is unfortunately not successful in this group of tumours except a few. Courtesy: Dr Amitabha Chanda, Consultant Neurosurgeon, Fortis Hospitals

REMEMBER:
Everybody is at a risk of developing a brain tumour If you have any of the symptoms, consult your doctor; other conditions can also cause similar symptoms. So, go to a doctor with a free mind. Follow your doctors advice. Remember that quick diagnosis and treatment may save you from many hassles later.