08/06/2021
World Brain Tumor Day is celebrated on June 8 every year. The day aims to raise awareness and educate people about the brain tumor. Brian Tumor Day is observed to pay tribute to brain tumor patients and their families, caregivers, scientists and health professionals.
What is Brain Tumor?
A brain tumor occurs when cells grow at an abnormal rate to form a mass of abnormal cells within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: cancerous (malignant) tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors.
A brain tumor can be a life-threatening disease but completely treatable. Some of the common treatments of brain tumor include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, anti-seizure medication, steroid treatment, etc.
Brain tumors may originate from neural elements within the brain itself, or they may represent spread of distant cancers from any other organ of the body like lungs, breast, kidney or prostate cancer. Primary brain tumor includes Gliomas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, and acoustic neuromas
Manifestations of brain tumor may be nonspecific and include the following: a Headache, Altered mental status, Nausea, Vomiting, Weakness, Gait Disturbance, Focal seizures, visual changes, Speech deficits, Focal sensory abnormalities. New onset seizures in adults or a headache associated with weakness or numbness of the limbs indicate more towards brain tumor.
As most of the brain tumor initially present with very nonspecific complaints, early diagnosis by a neurosurgeon or neuro physician helps plan further management in initial stages of the disease. Diagnosis is aided by imaging modalities like CT scan or MRI. Treatment of brain tumor includes maximal safe surgical resection. In some cases of malignant tumors, radiotherapy and oral chemotherapy are administered.
Diagnosis of brain tumor does not always mean a very poor outcome. A lot of CNS tumors are benign and can be cured completely and for life by complete surgical removal. In many cases of malignant tumors also, long-term survival is possible with accurate surgery and other management. Outcome and survival rate depends mostly on the age of the patient, type of tumor, whether it is benign or malignant, and the extent of the surgical excision and molecular characteristics of the tumor. Recent studies on molecular markers have opened newer treatment modalities in brain and spine tumors. Now brain tumors are treated based on the molecular staging of the tumor. Brain tumor surgery is becoming more and safer with the judicious use of stereotaxy, neural monitoring and brain mapping. Stereotactic radiosurgery sometimes can be used in selected cases to manage tumors without any surgery. Rehabilitation and support from friends and family are required for the optimum outcome of the patient in most cases.