Brain cancer treatment varies from patient to patient as factors, such as the person's age, overall fitness and where the tumor is located in the brain, must be taken into consideration. The kind of brain tumor that is afflicting the patient is also part of the dynamic involved. Brain cancer treatment often winds up being a calculated combination of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy.
Craniotomy
When brain surgery is decided upon, the goal is to remove as much of a brain tumor as possible. The more that can be removed the better the chances are for the patient. But this removal can be made difficult by the location of the brain cancer as well as by the health of the patient. An operation called a craniotomy is performed by opening the skull of the patient to expose the brain. The surgeon will then remove as much of the tumor as can safely be accomplished before using wire to secure the skull back into place. It may take as long as eight whole weeks before the recovery from a craniotomy is complete.
External Beam Radiation Therapy
Whether a brain tumor is removed totally or only partially, radiation therapy will be used. Radiation can kill any unseen brain cancer cells left behind after surgery, with external beam radiation the most commonly employed method of doing so. This form of treatment uses a machine to bombard the area of the brain with doses of radiation over a span of weeks. One form of external beam radiation that uses several doses of radiation that is not as intense as normal is called hyperfractionation.
Radiosurgery
Despite its name, stereotactic radiosurgery does not utilize surgery. It is the term for when a single dosage of radiation is aimed at a brain tumor. Computer images of the head enable the beam of radiation to be focused on the exact spot where the tumor exists. When brain tumors are located in delicate areas, stereotactic radiotherapy is used, with a number of smaller doses of the radiation hitting the tumor using the computer images as a guide. A radiation machine known as a Gamma knife sends low dose beams from various angles that join at one point and become a much more powerful focused beam that treats the tumor.
Brachytherapy
Radioactive capsules are utilized in a treatment for brain cancer called brachytherapy. This form of therapy involves placing the capsules into the tumor directly, with the idea being to have the radiation right next to the cancer. This treatment is often an option when brain cancer has come back to an area of the brain that has had prior external-beam radiation treatments. Brachytherapy is desirable because it is a much quicker way to use radiation to treat brain cancer and it does not affect other regions of the brain near the tumor.
Chemotherapy
Unlike other forms of cancer, brain cancer is not usually treated with chemotherapy aggressively. Brain cancer for the most part grows in a very slow manner, so attempting to slow down cancer cell growth, which is the aim of chemotherapy, is not as effective as it is with other cancers. There is also a problem with the chemicals used in chemotherapy being able to get into the region where the tumor is because of the nature of the brain. A combination of drugs will be tried to see which are working to decrease cancer cells. One particular type of chemotherapy agent is used when a surgeon takes out a tumor. Called Gliadel, it comes in the form of a small wafer which can be put right into the brain where the tumor previously was, making it more effective than traditional chemotherapy which is taken orally or through injection.
Tags: brain cancer, brain tumor, where tumor, beam radiation, doses radiation