Brain stem tumor

Main article: brain tumors

A brain stem tumor is a tumor in the part of the brain that connects to the spinal cord (the brain stem).

Types of brain stem tumors

The most common form of brainstem tumor is the brainstem glioma.

Symptoms

The symptoms of brain stem tumors vary greatly and can include ataxia, cranial nerve palsy, headaches, problems with speech and swallowing, hearing loss, weakness, hemiparesis, vision abnormalities, ptosis, and behavioral changes. Another possible symptom is vomiting. Headaches related to brainstem tumors may be worse shortly after waking up in the morning.[1]

Diagnosis

An MRI is better than a CT scan when a brainstem tumor is in the differential diagnosis.

Treatment and prognosis

Treatment typically consists of radiotherapy and steroids for palliation of symptoms. Radiotherapy may result in minimally extended survival time. Prognosis is very poor, with only 37% of treated patients surviving one year or more. Topotecan has been studied in the treatment of brainstem glioma, otherwise, chemotherapy is probably ineffective, though further study is needed.[2]

References

  1. ↑ http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/abta/primer.htm[]
  2. ↑ Brainstem Gliomas~treatment at eMedicine

External links

 This article incorporates public domain material from the U.S. National Cancer Institute document "Dictionary of Cancer Terms".


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/28/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.