Treatment Options
Usually, primary brain tumors are less common in adults than secondary brain tumors in which cancer begins elsewhere in the body and spreads or reaches the brain.
Surgery
If the brain tumor is at an accessible location for an operation, the Neurosurgeon will usually prefer to remove or resect as much of the brain tumor as can be done safely.
Some of the brain tumors are small and easily separable from the surrounding brain tissue, making it easy for doing a complete surgical removal as possible. Whereas, there are some brain tumors that can’t be separated from the surrounding brain tissue or they are located at or near the very sensitive areas of the brain, making overall surgery risky. In such cases, the Neurosurgeon removes as much of the tumor till it appears safe to do so.
Sometimes removing the tumor partially or part of it may also help reduce signs or symptoms.
Surgery to remove brain tumors comes with risks, such as bleeding and infection, partial or full impairment of organ that is controlled by the part of the brain that’s impacted due to surgery, for example, surgery to remove tumors near or on the nerves connecting your eyes may carry risk of partial or full vision loss.
Radiation Therapy/Doses
High energy beams also called X-rays or protons are radiated or exposed to the specific area where the tumor resides. These high-energy radiations kill the tumor cells. Radiations come from a machine outside the body (external beam radiation) or in rare cases, radiation is placed inside your body close to your brain tumor also called brachytherapy.
Usually, X-Rays are used in radiation therapy but nowadays, proton beams are also used in this treatment. Proton beam therapy helps doctors to control the radiation more precisely. This form of treatment is very helpful in treating brain tumors in children or tumors that are close to sensitive areas of the brain. Proton beam therapy is expensive compared to traditional X-Rays and also it is not widely available.
Radiosurgery
Stereotactic radiosurgery is not a conventional type of surgery. Here, multiple beams of radiation are used to give highly concentrated radiation treatment to kill the tumor cells in a very small and focused/targeted area. Individually a beam is not that powerful but the point or foci at which all the beams meet at the brain tumor becomes a very large dose of radiation to kill the tumor cells. There are various types of technology used in radiosurgery to treat brain tumors. One of them is Gamma Knife or linear accelerator. Radiosurgery is usually done in one treatment session and the patient can go home the same day.
Chemotherapy
There are some strong chemically active drugs that are used to kill the tumor cells. Chemotherapy drugs can be taken in pill form orally or injected intravenously.
The drug used in most cases to treat brain tumors is temozolomide (Temodar or Temodal). Other chemotherapy drugs may also be prescribed depending on the type of cancer or condition of the patient.
Side effects of chemotherapy depend on the type of drug and its dosages the patient receives. Depending on the type of the brain tumor, chemotherapy drug and dosage is recommended or prescribed.
Target Drug Therapy
These types of therapies focus on the anomalies present within the cancer cells. By targeting or blocking those anomalies, this treatment can cause cancer cells to die.
There are many targeted therapy drugs available to treat certain types of brain tumors, while some are still in research via clinical trials. The doctor may have the patient’s tumor cells tested to validate whether targeted therapy will be an effective treatment to treat the brain tumor.
Rehabilitation after treatment
Brain tumors can originate in parts of the brain that control motor skills, speech, vision, and thinking, a rehabilitation plan for patients treated for brain tumors becomes a necessary part of overall recovery.
Based on the needs, the doctor may refer their patients to:
- Physiotherapy to help regain lost motor skills or muscle strength
- Occupational therapy to help you get back to normal daily activities, such as work.
- Speech therapy from specialists will help regain from speech-related difficulties.
- Tutoring for kids to help them manage the changes in their memory and thought process after a brain tumor.
Coping with Life and getting support
The process of diagnosis of a brain tumor is very stressful and frightening. It immediately gives a feeling that you do not have any control over your health or life. It just does not takes a toll on a patient diagnosed with a brain tumor but it also heavily impacts the family of the patient. Therefore, it is very important there are some support groups or care available to the entire family including patients at the center.
Family or patient can take some of the steps cited below that might help in coping with the stress, shock, and grief that may come after your diagnosis.
- Learn about brain tumors to make informed decisions about your care. Feel free to discuss with your doctors elaborately the type of brain tumor diagnosed, what are the available treatment plans, and probably the prognosis (it is advisable and the patient’s right to know the prognosis) but it could be very overwhelming so in the best interest of the patient, the family can keep the information with them.
- Stay close with your friends and family. Keeping your close relationships strong will help you deal with a brain tumor. Your family and friends can become your practical support structure in this difficult situation. It might include taking care of your home while you are in the hospital OR getting some regular bank and other important work done while you are in hospital. They can also serve as an emotional support structure when you really feel very much overwhelmed by the overall situation you are going through as a patient or the family of the patient.
- Find someone to talk with or join some support groups. Have someone willing to listen while you talk about the overall situation. They could be your friend or a family member. You may also get help from a counselor or medical social worker or cancer support groups.