Diagnosis and Staging of brain cancer
-If patient has the symptoms of brain cancer doctor must find out whether they are due to cancer or some other cause.
-Doctor may ask about the personal and family medical history of patient.
Physical exam and history
-An exam of the body to check general signs of health, including checking for signs of disease, anything else that seems unusual.
-A history of the patient’s health habits and past illnesses and treatments will also be taken.
-A series of questions and tests to check the brain, spinal cord, and nerve function.
-The exam checks a person’s mental status, coordination, and ability to walk normally, and how well the muscles, senses, and reflexes work.
Neurological exam
-An exam to check a person’s field of vision (the total area in which objects can be seen).
-This test measures both central vision (how much a person can see when looking straight ahead) and peripheral vision (how much a person can see in all other directions while staring straight ahead).
-Any loss of vision may be a sign of a tumor that has damaged or pressed on the parts of the brain that affect eyesight.
Magnetic resonance Imaging
-A large machine with a strong magnet linked to a computer is used to make detailed pictures of areas inside the patient’s head.
-Sometimes a special dye (contrast material) is injected into a blood vessel into the arm or hand to help show differences in the tissues of the brain. The pictures can show abnormal areas, such as a tumor
- An x-ray machine linked to a computer takes a series of detailed pictures of patient’s head.
- Patient may receive contrast material by injection into a blood vessel in the arm or hand. The contrast material makes abnormal areas easier to see.
-Dye injected into the bloodstream makes blood vessels in the brain show up on an x-ray.
- If a tumor is present, the x-ray may show the tumor or blood vessels that are feeding into the tumor.
-Doctor may remove a sample of cerebrospinal fluid (the fluid that fills the spaces in and around the brain and spinal cord).
-The doctor uses a long, thin needle to remove fluid from the lower part of the spinal column.
-A laboratory checks the fluid for cancer cells.
-The removal of tissue to look for tumor cells is called a biopsy.
-A pathologist looks at the cells under a microscope to check for abnormal cells.
-A biopsy can show cancer, tissue changes that may lead to cancer, and other conditions.
-A biopsy is the only sure way to diagnose a brain tumor, learn what grade it is, and plan treatment.
-The extent or spread of cancer is usually described as stages.
-There is no standard staging system for brain tumors.
-Brain tumors that begin in the brain may spread to other parts of the brain and spinal cord, but they rarely spread to other parts of the body.
-Treatment of brain tumor is based the following:
-The type of cell in which the tumor began.
-Where the tumor formed in the brain.
-The amount of cancer left after surgery.
-The grade of the tumor.
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