Tumors in the brain region are basically masses of varying size and composition which develop within the cranial cavity.
Brain tumors are distinguished:
1. Depending on their disposition, in:
2. Depending on their origin, in:
3. Depending on their location in:
Characteristics such as size, anatomical position, and growth rate of the tumor determine the type of symptoms that will occur and the destined course of treatment.
Typically, the main symptoms include:
A detailed neurological examination is the cornerstone of a full diagnostic approach procedure. The rapid technological advancements in diagnosis provide us with numerous high precision technologically advanced pre-operative diagnostic tools designed for an accurate pre-operative diagnosis.
Based on the indications, one or more of the following diagnostic tests will probably be recommended:
However, despite of the accuracy of the paraclinical examinations, the final diagnosis is only feasible after taking a sample, i.e. a biopsy, from the tumor and running a histopathological analysis. The sample is either taken by performing a simple biopsy or during the surgical removal of the tumor.
As already mentioned, brain tumors are differentiated on the basis of their clinical, imaging and histopathological properties.
Depending on the type of cells they emerge from, the most common types of brain tumors are the following:
These are tumors which derive from the migration of cancer cells from malignant parts of the body.The most common forms of metastasis are from lung cancer, breast cancer, skin melanoma and kidney cancer.
In general, a patient with cancer has 15-30% chance to develop brain metastasis. Most commonly, metastatic brain tumors appear in the cerebral hemispheres or in the cerebellum.