Though childhood brain tumor is a rare disease, still, many children of any age all over the world suffer from this condition. Unlike the brain tumors in adults, brain tumors in children is a bit different. Brain tumors are probably the most common form of solid tumors affecting children. However, having knowledge of the symptoms, probable treatment of the disease can help the parents in coping with the situation in a better way and taking the right decision at the right time.

What is a brain tumor?
A group of abnormal cell growth in the brain is referred to as a brain tumor. The types of brain tumor depend upon the structure of the tumor cells, their rate of growth, composition and several other characteristics. However, two most common types of brain tumor affecting children are primary and secondary. In primary brain tumor, the tumor cells develop in the brain, while in secondary, cancerous cells invade the brain from other parts of the body.

Symptoms that determine the presence of tumor may vary in every child. The variation is due to certain aspects including size of the tumor, the location of the tumor, how the tumor is affecting the brain, etc. Some of the most common symptoms of childhood brain tumor are severe headaches, occasional seizures, feeling of sickness and vomiting, eye problems such as blurred visions, feelings of drowsiness without any reason, etc. Some children suffering from brain tumour may also experience difficulty in maintaining balance when walking or behavioral changes in children.

Treatment
While for some, surgical removal of the tumor may be the only treatment solution, for some sessions of radiotherapy and chemotherapy turn out to be really helpful. To control or reduce the effects of the brain tumor symptoms, taking regular medications may also be necessary for the affected children. Doctor may devise the best treatment plan despending on the condition of a child. As the treatment completely depends on the severity of the problem.

Prognosis
Depending on the grade, location, and type of tumor as well as the treatment, the overall health of children can be determined. While a significant number of children often successfully recover from the brain tumor, for some, the treatment needs to be continued for many years. As the nervous system of a child is in its developing stage, sometimes, children may develop some kind of learning or behavioral or physical disability as a result of the brain tumor treatment. If a child has any of these symptoms mentioned above, his or her parents should consult a medical professional right away. The sooner it is diagnosed, the better are the chances for the child to recover from a brain tumor.


Brain Tumor In Children - Understanding It In Detail!

Cerebral ischaemia or brain ischemia is a medical condition that restricts the flow of blood to the brain, resulting in an unmet metabolic demand. This leads to limited oxygen supply in the brain, which could result in the death of brain tissues, cerebral infarction or an ischemic stroke. Thus, a cardiorespiratory arrest, a stroke, and irreversible brain damage are few possible consequences of cerebral ischaemia.

People with compressed blood vessels, low blood pressure, congenital heart defects or sickle cell anaemia have a high risk of developing cerebral ischaemia since compressed blood vessels or very low pressure can lead to restricted blood flow. Also, sickle-shaped cells have a greater tendency to clot, causing obstructed blood flow.

Patients with cerebral ischaemia experience a host of symptoms, such as weakness in the body, problems with coordination and movement, vision and speech impairment and unconsciousness.

Cerebral congestion, on the other hand, refers to the excessive quantity of blood in the brain vessels, causing pressure on the cerebral substance. Cerebral congestion is of two types. It is termed as active when there is too much arterial blood flow and passive when there is undue quantity of venous blood in the veins of the brain. Both conditions cause symptoms, such as a severe headache, insomnia, irritability and unconsciousness. The patient gets little sleep and is disturbed often followed by dreams. When awake, the patient s mental activity in the brain is very high.

Homeopathy is now a well-established school of medicine backed with years of research and practice. Gone are the days when homeopathy was considered no more than an extension of herbal home remedies.

Homeopathic laboratories around the world produce a large number of medicines covering almost all ailments. The benefits of homeopathic treatment are now well established due to its holistic approach and minimal side effects. Homeopathy is undoubtedly a ray of hope for patients with cerebral ischaemia and cerebral congestion, as it delivers a comprehensive treatment plan designed to target the signs and symptoms of the disease and address its non-occurrence.

The medications deal with mild to severe symptoms, including inflammation of the brain, headache, vomiting, insomnia, stroke/convulsions and seizures. The stramonium drug, for example, deals with seizures. Belladonna is an effective remedy for sharp shooting headaches, a common symptom of cerebral congestion. Ferrum is believed to be a valuable remedy for brain ischaemia. Few drugs deal with the symptoms of both ischaemia and congestion nux is a suitable drug for the treatment of ischaemia as well as for passive cerebral congestion. Similarly, phosphorus can be used to treat brain ischaemia and congestion. Zincum metallicum is a highly recommended drug for chronic cases of ischaemia.

The treatment is comprehensive and long term and shows substantive results. Regular follow-ups and consultation with a homeopath specialist is the key to an effective treatment.

Homeopathy Treatment Of Cerebral Ischaemia & Cerebral Congestion

The most powerful and amazing organ in our body is the brain. It differs from many other organs of our body not only by its shape, but also by its special type of cell called neurons. When these cells gets affected or dead it can never be reverted or regenerated which is the most exclusive nature found only in brain cells. The cells in other parts of our body has the capacity to regenerate (can be replaced or new one can be grown or produced), but brain cells are exception. Hence any damage to the brain, injury or trauma is really a crucial thing to be considered with utmost care.

Brain surgeries really need skill, proper training, confidence and intelligence to perform this highly complicated and risky surgery.

Purpose:
Brain surgeries are performed to:

Remove the brain tissues that are grown abnormally
Aneurysm is clipped to prevent flow of blood cliff off an aneurysm
Biopsy purpose or to remove the tumour
Make a nerve free
Drain the abnormal blood or clot collection or to drain any excessive fluid collection caused by infection.
To implant artificial electronic device as a treatment for conditions like Parkinson's disease
Types:

Biopsy: A part of brain tissue is removed for the brain or whole tumour is removed.
Craniotomy: The skull bone is opened to remove tumour, an aneurysm and drain fluid or blood from infection.
Minimally invasive endonasal endoscopic surgery: Endoscopic devices are inserted through the nose to remove the lesions or tumour.
Minimally invasive neuroendoscopy: Similar to endonasal surgery but small incision is made.
Risks:

Anaesthesia risks like breathing difficulty, allergic reaction to medications, excessive bleeding or clots and infection.
Risk related to the brain surgeries are seizures, coma, swelling of brain, infection to brain or meanings, surgical wound infection that intrudes to the brain structures, abnormal clot formation and bleeding.
General risks include muscle weakness, disturbances in memory, speech, vision, coordination, balance and other functions that are controlled by the brain.

Brain Surgery - Know The Purpose Behind It!

Although surgery is considered to be the first step of treatment in any form of tumor, but its feasibility depends upon the type, size and location of the tumor. It is not necessary that every kind of brain tumor might require surgery.

Indications of Brain Tumor Surgery
- Diagnosis of the type of tumor by taking a sample of the tumor for laboratory examination
- Complete resection of tumor
- Removal of the tumor as much as possible to slow down its growth and improve the symptoms
- Remove the tumor in order to help other treatment
- Provide direct access for other forms of treatment like chemotherapy, radiotherapy etc.
- To relieve pressure caused by tumor on surrounding structures

Types of Brain Tumor Surgery
The different types of surgery that are performed in cases of brain tumor include the following:

Craniotomy: Craniotomy is the most commonly performed procedure to remove brain tumor along with a piece of bone. The removed bone is replaced and the tumor is sent for histopathology (biopsy). The surgery is performed using a high end microscope by any of the following techniques:
- Extended bifrontal craniotomy
- "Eyebrow" craniotomy (supraorbital craniotomy)
- "Keyhole" craniotomy (retro-sigmoid craniotomy)
- Orbitozygomatic craniotomy
- Translabyrinthine craniotomy

Shunt: A narrow piece of flexible tube with a pressure regulated valve in between is called a shunt. This is used to relieve the intracranial pressure caused by obstruction of the natural brain fluid, Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pathway by tumor mass. The procedure involves insertion of a drainage system into the brain to remove or drain excess of blocked fluid into the peritoneal cavity.

Stereotactic surgery: This surgery is done by creating a three dimensional image called stereotaxy using computers. It aims to find out the location and position of the tumor. In fact it can also be done to aid tumor removal, implant radiation pellets or for other treatments.

Embolization: It is a procedure used to reduce the amount of blood supply to a tumor by blocking the blood flow in the selected arteries. It is generally performed before the main surgery.

Endoscopy and endoscope assisted surgery: Endoscope is a tool, which helps to closely visualize the tissue through small openings in difficult to reach areas. This tool can be used in various brain surgeries to precisely reach the target location without damaging the adjacent structures.

Adjuvant modalities to improve outcome: In addition to above mentioned surgeries, following surgeries may also be performed in relation to brain tumor treatment:
- Laser surgery
- Photodynamic laser surgery
- Ultrasonic aspiration
- Fluorescence guided surgery (FGS)
- Electrophysiological monitoring

Brain Tumor Surgery

Obesity is the new-age lifestyle disease with multiple ramifications. While its effects on the physical aspects are very evident, the damage it does to the brain are more severe, though not obvious. Read on to know some harmful effects of obesity on the emotional well-being.

Leads to binge eating: There is a certain pleasure in eating sugary and fatty food, and this is lost with depression. Therefore, to get that emotional satisfaction, people tend to eat more chocolates, cookies, milkshakes, and other weight-accumulating food items, which further add to obesity. Greater the weight gained by a person, lesser the response or happiness from such food products.
Increases impulsivity: The area of the brain known as orbitofrontal cortex, which is in charge of controlling impulsivity, shrinks in obese people. This results in people eating more impulsively.
Affects immunity: Obesity is a major cause of inflammation, leading to damage in certain parts of the brain. This impairs the immune system, making the affected person more prone to infections and tissue damage. This leads to increased chances of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, sleeping disorders, eating disorders, etc. The chemical known as C-reactive protein increases as seen on MRIs in obese people, and which is usually seen in patients with chronically increased inflammation.
Effects on memory: As the BMI increases, there is a decrease in scores of memory tests. This effect is more obvious in women after menopause. With increased fat accumulation, more hormones are released, which affects the memory. Increased inflammation also affects cognition and memory.
Increased risk of dementia: With more belly fat accumulating, there is extra stress on the body to burn the visceral fat. This reduces brain size and causes certain hormones to release, which further affects the body s ability to remember things. It has been proven that people with smaller brain size are at greater risk for developing dementia.
Weight loss stress adding to more stress: When obesity sets in and the BMI goes up, there is an added pressure to lose weight, which further ups the stress levels. During these dieting days, the brain is constantly alert and finds ways to eat more. This also leads to excess eating. Moreover, there are indications that there could be genetic changes during this phase, which may leave a permanent mark in the person s composition.
Depression: When a person is not happy with their reflection in the mirror, the chances of feeling good and happy are very less. In this age, where aesthetics plays a major morale booster, an obese image staring back does not help at all.
So, if you have a risk of obesity, watch out. It is not just how you look, but how you feel is also altered.

Obesity - How It Affects The Human Brain?

Cancer today is not as rare as it once was. Today, cancer affects the young and old alike. One of the reasons for this is the pollution in particular air and water pollution that we are exposed to on daily basis.
The air we breathe in today is a mixture of smoke, particulate matter and noxious gases that causes great harm to our bodies. Amongst these, particulate matter that is smaller than 2.5 millionths of a metre is the worst.

These particle matters are emitted into the air from car exhausts, industrial exhausts, coal fires, wood stoves etc. While the body s natural defences help keep larger particle matter out of the system by sneezing or coughing it out, smaller particle matter enters the body easily. These then get trapped in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Particle matter has in particular been linked to increasing number of lung cancer cases. Apart from lung cancer, coal tar particle matter has been linked to bladder cancer, soot to oesophageal cancer and benzene and other pesticides to leukaemia.

Radon is another source of air pollution that is emitted from the ground. In some cases, radon can also be emitted through the water. As this gas decays, it releases tiny particles that when inhaled bombard the lung cells with radiation that can cause radiation. Smoking can worsen this effect and increase a person s risk of suffering from lung cancer. Both first-hand and second-hand smoking have also been linked to breast cancer. Apart from trying to reduce emissions to lower air pollution, it is also important to clean filets of air conditions, etc. regularly to lower indoor air pollution. Preventing the smoking of tobacco in public spaces can also help improve air quality.

All pollutants emitted by us eventually find their way into the water we drink. Even if you are not drinking contaminated water, merely, showering or swimming in contaminated water can make your body more vulnerable to the carcinogens in it. Common water pollutants include arsenic, hazardous waste, animal waste, radon, chemicals and asbestos. Drinking water with concentrated amounts of arsenic has been linked to cancer of the lungs, liver, kidney and bladder while the chlorine used to treat drinking water increases the risk of bladder and rectal cancer.

To reduce the risks of cancer caused by polluted water, it is essential to reduce disinfectant by products by keeping water treatment facilities updated and promote green chemistry and alternative assessments to reduce pollution as a whole.

Pollution - How It Has Increased the Risk Of Cancer?

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