A diagnosis of cancer of any kind is never welcome news. However, medical technology has come a long way in understanding and successfully treating cancer. While brain tumors pose unique challenges, rest assured that there are many highly effective ways to treat brain cancer. Here is get the best possible care.
Instructions
1. Learn about brain cancer. Understanding brain anatomy, types and stages of tumors and the options and technologies available will help you make informed decisions.
2. Find a medical center that treats brain cancer and a doctor whom you trust and with whom you can communicate. Your doctor teams with you and with other specialists to determine the best treatment options. Depending on the course of treatment, the medical team can include oncologists, pathologists, neurologists and surgeons.
3. Discuss treatment options, risks and prognoses with your medical team. Every consideration is weighed, including whether the tumor is benign or malignant, and the type, grade and size of the tumor and its location. The team also takes into account the patient's medical history, current state of health and wishes.
4. Work with the medical team to decide upon a course of treatment. Typically brain tumors are treated with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy or a combination of treatments. Some brain cancer treatments begin with surgery to remove or "debulk" the tumor, making subsequent chemotherapy and radiation interventions more successful. Other times radiation may come first to shrink the tumor before surgery.
5. Undergo surgery, if that is the consensus of your medical team. An operation removes the tumor or as much of the tumor as can be reached without harming the surrounding tissues. The procedure performed varies depending on the location, size and malignancy of the tumor. For example, a small mengionoma that appears on the casing of the brain may require less invasive surgery than a craniotomy in which the surgeon must open the skull and delve deeper into the brain itself.
6. Go to radiation therapy sessions, if they are part of your treatment regimen. This approach uses radiation to destroy cancer cells in the brain. Radiation may be administered externally by machines that target either the tumor or a larger area surrounding it. A newer approach to radiation therapy is to surgically implant radioactive material within the tumor.
7. Complete all chemotherapy cycles that are part of your treatment plan. Chemotherapy medications that kill cancer cells either come in pill form or are given intravenously. Chemotherapy drugs in "wafer" form can also be surgically implanted inside the tumor, where they gradually dissolve and deliver a significantly higher dose of the drug than can be administered in pill or fluid form.
8. Take prescribed medications. Various drugs may be prescribed before, during and after other treatments. For example, you may have a prescription for a drug to control seizures, a steroid to control swelling after surgery or an antiemetic to control nausea resulting from chemotherapy.
9. Attend rehabilitation sessions, if needed. Depending on the severity of the brain cancer, surrounding areas of the brain that involve motor control, speech, cognition and sight may be affected. If so, your brain cancer treatment may include a rehabilitation program. Examples can include physical therapy or speech therapy.
Tags: brain cancer, medical team, brain cancer, brain tumors, cancer cells
