Brain Tumor

Hi,

I am Dr. Arun Sharma, Neurosurgeon, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, Delhi. Today I will talk about a brain tumor. A brain tumor is a cancerous or non-cancerous mask or growth of abnormal cells. Iska matlab hai ki jo har rasoli hai vo cancerous nahi hoti hai. Islia cancer ka naam brain tumor se nahi jodna chaiye. Brain tumor ke karan kya ho sakte hain? The exact cause for a brain tumor is not known. But radiation has been implicated in many of the brain tumors. What are the symptoms of a brain tumor? Brain tumor se humein sir dard ho sakta hai, vomiting ho sakti hai, chalne mein dikkat ho sakti hai, haath pair mein kamjoori aa sakti hai, sunne mein dikkat, dikhayi dene mein dikkat, double dikhna, behavior changes aa sakte hain, aur kisi kis mein yadash mein changes aa sakte hain. Now, we come to the diagnosis. We can get the CT scan done. MRI scan can be done. MRI angiography helps us to localize the tumor, size of the tumor, the location. We can see where the tumor is coming. It also can be done brain abscess. Then we can do the biopsy for the deep sitted tumor. This helps us to know the tumor by getting the biopsy done. This will be done with a very small hole. A brain tumor is of 3 types. One is a benign tumor, 2nd is a malignant tumor and 3rd is a metastatic tumor. All are a non-cancerous tumor and they can be removed completely. Then only we can think that it is cured after removing completely.

Malignant tumors are high-grade tumors which have high growth and grow very fast. The metastatic tumor is the tumor which comes to the brain from various other parts of the body. This malignant tumors and benign tumors can be classified into 4 grades. Grade 1 and 2 which is usually considered as low grade and 3 & 4 are malignant one which is known as a high-grade tumor. The grade of the tumor can be known somewhat on radiology and biopsy of the tumor. In adults, the most common tumors are astrocytoma, meningioma tumor and in children is a metastasis. Now we come to the treatment of the tumor. One is surgical treatment. The surgical depends on the location of the tumor, size of the tumor, the involvement of the tumor. Some benign tumor can be excised completely which completely needs a cure of the brain tumor. Some may require or may not require radiotherapy and chemotherapy for the treatment. And in some cases in which there have been neurological deficits caught by the brain tumor then these patients require further rehabilitation.

What are the latest techniques which I have been evolved over a period of years to help in the management of the tumor? One of the most important things is neuronavigation in which we can localize the brain tumors so that this helps in minimizing the size of the tumor and complete excision of the tumor. 2nd is biopsy in which with a small hole in the scalp, we can reach the deep sitted tumors, obtain a biopsy with minimal and no neurological deficit. We can know the type of treatment. We can help the patient by providing radiotherapy and chemotherapy. 3rd is gamma knife and cyberknife which provides a high bim of focused x-rays to the tumourous portion. This helps in minimizing the damage. Gamma knife is helpful for very small tumors in critical locations which may be difficult to excise.

Thank You.