Brain Cancer - Reality Checkup
Brain cancer ribbon
Brain cancer is where brain cells grow and form a large cancerous tissue which then later forms into a brain tumor. brain cancer is suspected to develop in about 20,000 people per year. There are different ways you can develop brain cancer. It can come from different types of brain tissue and brain cells, such as qlial cells, astrocytes, and other brain cell types. Metastatic brain cancer is caused by the cancer cells spreading from a body's organ part to the brain.
There are things that can enhance these risks such as a chemist, an oil refinery, embaler, or a rubber industry worker. The viral infection, HIV, has been brought up as a cause of brain cancer, but has not been proved yet. There is no evidence that brain cancer is contagious by cellphone usage or head trauma.
Some Symptoms of brain cancer is headaches, seizures, difficulty with walking, nausea, vomiting, change in a person's alertness, blurry vision, speech, and even change in personality. BUT these symptoms can be for some other thing that does not have any relation to brain cancer. Even if you or someone have these symptoms, it doesn't mean that you have brain cancer.
There is a physical examination and a interview with a doctor/ health-care provider that is used to diagnose/ test for brain cancer. The most commonly used test to determine if you have brain cancer is a C.A.T scan. Another commonly used test is an MRI, but is not as available as a C.A.T scan.
Treatment is different for each brain cancer patient. it is also determined by the size of the tumor, the cancer type, where it is located in the brain, and the the patiens age and health status. Treatment is determined by doctors who specialize in brain cancer. Usually the treatment revolves around what the patients wishes are, to get rid of the brain cancer.
The three majorly used treatments for brain cancer is chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation therapy. Chemotherapy tries to destroy the cancerous cells using chemicals that are supposed to destroy the certain type of cancer. The surgical way is to try to cut the tumor away from the brain. Finally radiation therapy trys to destroy the cancer cells with a high energy radiation, that is focused onto the tumor. There are also other ways to cure brain cancer such as immunotherapy, hyperthermia, or steriods.
The sideeffects for the treatments can be severe, so they try to keep it to the minnimum. The chemotherapy usually kils the cancer cells but it also can affect the normal tissue. The most common sideeffects for chemotherapy is hair loss, loss of energy, nausea, and vomiting. Organs such as kidneys and the reproductive organs, can also be damaged by chemotherapy. Most of the time the effects grow less and less, but sometimes it doesnt. The surgical side affects are increase of current symptoms, brain swelling, seizures, and damage to the normal brain tissue.
Like chemotherapy most of the time the side effects go away after a while or lessen, but sometimes does not go away. As for radiation therapy it usually has the same side effects as chemotherapy. But radiation is more focused onto the brain and therefore doesnt effect the kidneys, and other immune system parts. However the cancer patient's hair and skin are affected, making hair loss, and reddish and darkened skin that must be protected from the sun.
Some sources say that the survival rate of cancer is "the five year survival rate is 80%". While other sources say that the survival rate "1 in every 3".
