Understanding Brain Cancer

Understanding Brain Cancer

The brain is the center of thought, emotion, memory, speech, and many more, and it is the most sophisticated organ in the human body. A hard skull protects the brain where it floats in a fluid called Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF). The brain is generally set apart from the rest of the body, and functions rather differently too. Most of the brain cells are called astrocytes, and they basically support and serve the 10 billion working cells that are called neurons. These neurons make about 13 trillion connections with one another to sustain life within the human body.

Brain tumors can arise at any time and damage this complex organ in various ways. Some risk factors are environmental, like radiation from previous cancer treatment. Other risk factors are mainly due to immune system disorders, and rarely do they run in the family. Therefore, abnormalities of genes (mutations) are the main cause for brain cancer.

It all starts in a single cell anywhere in the brain, since any type of cell there can become cancerous. Unlike cancer in other organs of the body, brain tumors spread locally and cause a lot of damage to the normal tissue in the place where they originated.

Most brain tumors are primary, and the two most common types are astrocytomas that start in the astrocytes, and glioblastomas multiforme. Primary brain tumors, which originate in or around the brain rarely spread to other another organ, though cancer in other organs, like the lungs, can spread or metastize to the brain. Such tumors are called metastic brain cancers and they are treated differently.

The symptoms or signs which hint to the existence of a brain tumor include:

§ Blurred vision

§ Personality changes

§ Seizures

§ Malaise ...

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Primary cerebral lymphoma Associated with AIDS and other immunodeficient states. Presentation may be with focal deficits or with disturbances of cognition and consciousness. May be indistinguishable from cerebral toxoplasmosis. Treatment is by whole-brain irradiation; chemotherapy may gave an adjunctive role.

Standard Therapy

To date, the best treatment for malignant astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a combination of:

§ Surgery (Gross total removal, i.e. 80 – 99%)

§ Radiotherapy (5,000 – 6,000 Rads)

§ Chemotherapy (BCNU)

Growth Dynamics (GBM):

§ Growth Fraction = 20% (Only a percentage of the tumor is growing at any one time)

§ Cell Cycle Time = 2 – 5 Days (This is how long it takes a growing cell to reproduce)

§ Cell Loss = 80 – 90% (A high percentage of cells spontaneously die off)

§ Doubling Time = Around 7 Days