What can cause brain cancer. Brain cancer: how not to miss the first symptoms. How to detect cancer in the initial phase of development

Malignant neoplasms of brain tissues include tumors inside the skull and spinal canal. The oncological process is characterized by uncontrolled and atypical cell division. How to recognize brain cancer at the same time, it depends on the class and type of oncoformation.

Statistics

This pathology can develop in two main forms:

Primary lesion - when a neoplasm is formed from mutated brain tissue.
Secondary lesion - the oncological process in this case is a consequence of the metastatic spread of cancer cells from distant organs and systems. Penetration of pathological elements can be made by lymphogenous or circulatory route.

According to the latest classification, according to the histological structure, experts distinguish 12 groups of brain tumors. In most cases, cancer patients are diagnosed (60%). This type of head tumor grows directly from the brain tissue and has a poor prognosis. The second oncological tumor in terms of frequency of diagnosis is, the source of which is the cells of the meninges.

Many people have a logical question, how to recognize cancer at an early stage? To do this, the doctor compares the subjective complaints of the patient and the data of an objective study.

Early signs of brain cancer

The initial stage of the disease can be identified only by the presence of cerebral symptoms of oncology:

Headache attacks:

This is considered the earliest sign of a malignant process in the central nervous system. Pain attacks have different intensity. They are usually active in the afternoon and at night.

Also, increased pain occurs during physical or mental overexertion.

Vomit :

Typical for such is the presence of vomiting without concomitant nausea. In most cases, vomiting attacks are not associated with food intake and are observed in the morning or on the background of a migraine.

Dizziness :

Often patients complain of a sudden onset of a sense of rotation of surrounding objects.

Mental disorders:

Patients with meningeal tumors retain a clear mind. At the same time, in some patients, the process of thinking, remembering or perception is distorted. So, for example, it can be difficult for a cancer patient to remember recent events, his address. He becomes apathetic or, on the contrary, hyperexcited.

epileptic seizures:

Seizures that first occur over the age of 20 are a direct reason for a visit to a neurologist. In the case of a malignant lesion, this symptomatology tends to increase the number of seizures.

Deterioration in the quality of vision:

Patients have a progressive decrease in visual acuity or a feeling of fog before the eyes.

Sensitivity Distortion:

The slow disappearance of tactile or pain sensitivity of the skin can also be an early sign of the development of a head tumor.

Exact symptoms of a tumor

Focal signs of damage to the tissues of the central nervous system, depending on the location of the tumor, include:

Frontal lobe:

Local headache, epileptic seizures, mental disorders, paresis of mimic muscles and decreased visual acuity.

Pre- and postcentral gyrus:

Pathological seizures of swallowing, licking and chewing. Patients have paralysis of the facial and hypoglossal nerves and discoordination of limb movement.

Temporal lobe:

In the initial period of the disease, patients note the disappearance of gustatory and olfactory sensations. Also in such cancer patients there is a disruption of the trigeminal nerve and convulsive conditions.

Parietal lobe:

Decreased deep sensation and gait coordination. Patients have difficulty reading, writing and speaking.

Occipital lobe:

The main symptom is blurred vision.

Pituitary:

The key sign of such a lesion is a radical change in hormonal balance and blindness.

What tests will help to recognize brain cancer in time?

For the timely diagnosis of brain cancer, the doctor, after clarifying the patient's complaints, prescribes the following procedures:

A general and detailed blood test, which also includes the determination of the exact concentration of platelets.
Ultrasound examination of internal organs.
Computed and magnetic resonance imaging.

Determination of the number of oncomarkers in the diagnostic complex of procedures does not bring great results, since they do not have a high specificity of the study. This procedure is mainly used to monitor the effectiveness of anti-cancer treatment.

Disease prevention

To prevent malignant degeneration of brain cells, experts recommend following the following rules:

Annual preventive medical examinations.
To refuse from bad habits.
Balance your daily diet in terms of vitamins and minerals.
Eliminate the effect of carcinogens on the body.
Spend more time outdoors and exercise.

Brain cancer is the combined name of various malignant tumors that have developed in this organ.

It can be a neuroma, a formation arising from the nerves of the brain, a meningioma, a tumor from the meninges, and many others. According to statistics, brain cancer is quite rare and makes up no more than 6% of the total list of malignant tumors of various localization. More often, such formations are secondary, as a result of metastasis of the main tumor from another organ. As a primary education, it occurs extremely rarely, more often in children under seven years of age.

The exact causes of oncological diseases of various localization, including the brain, remain not fully understood. The specificity of the development of pathology lies in the transformation of one cell into an atypical, that is, malignant, after such a degeneration, it begins to divide uncontrollably, forming a tumor.

Modern medicine highlights some causes that can affect the development of a primary tumor in the brain, but they are only hypothetical, they include:

infectious diseases;
skull trauma;
radiation exposure;
systematic contact with carcinogenic substances (work with heavy metals, paint and varnish production, chemical industry, etc.);
genetic predisposition.

But it should be noted that these causes are indirect, their direct impact on tumor formation is not a confirmed fact.

Regarding such a reason as heredity, it is considered a proven fact that brain cancer can develop as a result of certain genetic diseases, as a rule, the onset of such a tumor occurs in childhood. Such pathological changes at the genetic level, that is, with damage to one specific gene in DNA, include:

Li-Fraumeni syndrome;
neurofibromatosis of the first and second type;
basal cell nevus syndrome;
Bourneville's disease;
Turco syndrome.

Reasons such as smoking, the systematic impact of a mobile phone on the head area during frequent conversations, viral diseases have not been confirmed and cannot be considered factors in the development of a neoplasm in the brain.

How to detect brain cancer?

MRI machine allows to identify lesions

Signs of brain cancer are quite diverse and can often resemble the symptoms of any other disease, which makes it difficult to diagnose and promptly further treatment. Depending on which part of the brain the neoplasm has arisen, and what type of tumor it has, the symptoms will differ.

Neoplasms in the frontal lobe

This part of the brain is characterized by the following manifestations:

violation of the musculoskeletal system, as a rule, in the form of a failure in the coordination of movements;
mental disorders, manifested in sudden mood swings and inappropriate behavior;
epileptic seizures may occur;
impaired sense of smell;
slowness, low activity and lethargy.

Neoplasms of the central gyrus

Depending on whether the tumor affected the anterior or posterior part of the central gyrus, the following may occur:

violation of sensitivity;
movement disorders;
the occurrence of epileptic seizures;
loss of sensation in the nerves of the face, limbs or torso;
development of motor aphasia.

Tumor in the temporal lobe

This location is characterized by:

the occurrence of hallucinations, they can be both auditory and visual;
increased intracranial pressure;
epileptic seizures;
pupil dilation;
development of strabismus and inactivity of the eyeball;
increased talkativeness, but there is a violation of the quality of speech;
memory impairment, namely forgetting the names of surrounding objects.

Neoplasms of the superior and inferior parietal lobes

The upper parietal lobe is characterized by loss of sensation in one of the limbs, pain in the opposite part of the body from the numb side. The symptoms are often similar to those of the posterior central gyrus, meaning there is a problem with sensation in different parts of the body.

A tumor in the lower lobe causes visual impairment, grammatical understanding, speech may be confused and not coherent. Many words from speech turnover are forgotten, speech becomes more scarce. The movements of individual parts of the body are difficult, as a rule, the process involves the arm or leg, as well as the muscles of the face, in particular, the lips and even the tongue.

Formations in the back of the head

In this case, color perception is disturbed, confusion of colors is observed, and visual hallucinations occur. At the same time, the reaction of the pupils to light is preserved. There is a severe headache, with increased pressure in the region of the eyeball.

Neoplasms in the lateral ventricles of the brain

Observed:

sudden attacks of severe headache;
nausea and vomiting;
severe dizziness up to loss of consciousness;
epileptic seizures;
increased pressure inside the skull.

Cerebral symptoms

It is important not to miss the first signs of brain cancer, they usually have a general symptom complex, regardless of the part of the brain in which the tumor is located. These include:

Systemic headaches are one of the first signs of the disease. Pain is poorly relieved by analgesics and painkillers, with the development of pathology, more and more powerful drugs are required. The symptom intensifies at night, as well as in the morning and at moments of increased physical activity or stress;
nausea, this symptom does not depend on food intake, but occurs as a result of compression of certain nerve endings by the tumor. In some cases, nausea with concomitant vomiting becomes frequent and requires certain medications to avoid dehydration;
impaired coordination and functioning of the musculoskeletal system, often manifested in paralysis of one of the limbs or neuralgia of the face. Often there is lethargy and awkwardness in movements.

Brain cancer, the symptoms can be both rapidly developing and gradually emerging, which the patient and his relatives may not attach importance to. It is important to seek qualified medical help if you notice the following changes:

causeless systematic nausea and vomiting;
visual disturbances mainly on one side, possibly double vision;
recurrent epileptic seizures;
constant weakness, desire to sleep up to a lethargic state;
hearing or vision disorder more often in combination with dizziness or pain in the head;
sudden weight loss.

First symptoms

Headaches often begin as in the early stages of the pathology, they are noted by 80% of patients, but they may also not disturb the patient for a long period of time.

The gag reflex, often uncontrolled, occurs early in most cases. Many patients report problems with vision, loss of visual acuity, fog before the eyes or flies, especially often such manifestations occur in the morning and are accompanied by dizziness. Damage to the optic nerves occurs in more than 70% of patients.

One of the first to occur are convulsions, which become more frequent with the progress of the disease, but their appearance is noted by about 30% of patients. Especially their presence should alert young people, convulsions or epileptic seizures can occur in any part of the body, absolutely suddenly, their duration is different, often such an attack ends with numbness of the trunk or limbs.

What exactly the first manifestations will arise in a particular case is difficult to say, since everything depends on the localization of the neoplasm, the rapidity of its growth, the compression of one or another part of the brain, which is responsible for certain functions.

In 15% of patients with brain cancer, mental abnormalities are observed, and they can manifest themselves both in lethargy and depression, and in an absolutely opposite action, with a feeling of euphoria and not perceiving the presence of such a serious illness.

With the progress of the oncological process, intracranial pressure rises uncontrollably, and it entails many other symptoms.

In addition to the signs described, if the lesion occurs in children, it is accompanied by an increase in head volume. The predominance of the brain part of the head over the front, an increase in fontanelles, dilation of the veins over the cranium. Neurological abnormalities in children are associated in this case with compression of the gray and white matter of the brain, its swelling and divergence of the cranial sutures.

Forecast

Survival of patients with a malignant neoplasm in the brain depends on many factors:

the location of the tumor;
stage of pathology at which treatment was started;
patient's age;
histological type of neoplasm;
the presence or absence of metastases and the spread of the tumor beyond the affected organ, etc.

Children and young people are much more likely to survive the five-year milestone than the elderly. So, for example, in people under 19 years of age, the survival rate is about 66%, and in older people after 75 years, this figure does not exceed 5%.

Depending on the type of tumor, the following numbers are noted:

ependymomas in patients under 44 years of age, survival is 85%, older than this age is 69%;
oligodendrogliomas up to 44 years old - 81% of the five-year survival rate, over this age - 45%;
glioblastoma multiforme has the worst prognosis, up to 13% under the age of 44 years and older, no more than 1%.

But, unfortunately, even with a positive outcome of the pathology, irreversible changes often occur, especially in the nervous system, in the form of memory, speech, and mental disorders.

Despite the fact that brain cancer is a very serious and dangerous disease that requires timely diagnosis and emergency treatment, it is possible and even necessary to fight it. The main thing is faith in recovery and attentiveness to your health!

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Brain cancer is a pathological growth in the brain. A distinctive feature of it is the rapid germination in the surrounding tissues and their destruction. The reason for the development of the disease is the unlimited growth and development of malignant brain cells.

Compared to other cancers, brain cancer is the most rare form of cancer. In the total number of malignant tumors, its share is only 1.5%.

Clinical course of the disease

As for brain cancer, it is impossible to divide it into benign and malignant tumors. Without exception, all neoplasms in the brain are malignant. Regardless of the rate of tumor growth in brain cancer, it can lead to the death of the patient at any time. Here, the decisive factor is primarily localization.

Symptoms of brain cancer

The location of the tumor in the brain and its size provoke the manifestation of a whole range of different symptoms (focal, cerebral and general somatic), the intensity of which increases as the disease progresses.

In some cases, for a sufficiently long time, the tumor can develop in a latent form. The increase in clinical manifestations in this case is of a periodic nature.

However, an acute manifestation of the disease, sometimes stroke-like, is possible. Signs of brain cancer in these cases may be similar to signs of viral meningoencephalitis or some disease of the vascular system of the brain.

Focal symptoms of brain cancer:

Violation of sensitivity (inability or decrease in the ability to perceive external stimuli, impaired perception in the space of one's own body or its individual parts);
Memory impairment (up to its complete or partial loss);
Decreased muscle activity and impaired motor function (manifested as paresis or paralysis);
Epileptic seizures caused by the formation of a focus of congestive excitation in the cerebral cortex;
Hearing impairment and speech recognition;
Impaired vision and text/object recognition;
Complete or partial loss of speech (both oral and written);
Vegetative disorders (dizziness, fluctuations in pulse and pressure, general weakness);
Hormonal disorders;
Violation of coordination of movements;
Changes in character, impaired attention, absent-mindedness, loss of orientation in space, time, self;
Violations of intellectual functions and emotional sphere, loss of personality traits;
Auditory and visual hallucinations.

General symptoms of brain cancer:

Intense headaches that are permanent and poorly relieved by analgesics that do not contain narcotic substances (this sign of brain cancer is one of the most frequent and early; pain intensity largely depends on the size and location of the tumor);
Vomiting, gushing, sudden, reflex character. It does not depend on food intake, may not be accompanied by preliminary nausea, appears, as a rule, at the peak of the headache (most often early in the morning or late in the evening / night), in some cases it is provoked by a change in body position;
Dizziness caused by the growth of the size of the tumor and, as a result, the deterioration of blood supply to the brain;
Symptom of congestive optic discs (one of the most valuable signs that manifest venous congestion and infringement of the optic nerve). The result of this symptom may be atrophy of the optic nerves of the secondary type.

The nature of the emerging mental disorders, which are signs of brain cancer, directly depends on the localization of the tumor:

Lethargy, inertia, apathy; aggression, followed by a state of euphoria; memory loss and intellectual impairment; oddities in behavior, lack of neatness with feces and urine, lack of criticality (with the development of a tumor in the frontal lobes);
Taste, olfactory, auditory hallucinations (with the development of a tumor in the temporal lobe);
Visual hallucinations (if the tumor is located at the junction of the temporal and occipital lobes);
Paresthesia and the occurrence of pain in opposite limbs (with a tumor in the parietal lobe).

Types of brain cancer

There are two types of cancerous tumors in the brain: primary tumors and secondary tumors.

A cancerous tumor that develops directly from brain cells is of the primary type.

A neoplasm that has arisen as a result of the spread of metastases to the brain from other organs affected by cancer cells is a tumor of the secondary type.

Stages of brain cancer

Like most other cancers, brain cancer progresses through several stages. The generally accepted method for determining the stage of the disease is the TNM method. This system is based on the assessment of the tumor according to three main criteria and their contribution to the overall level of risk of cancer.

The value of the characteristic "T" in this system serves to assess the size and localization of the tumor. Its indicator varies from 1 to 4 (the higher it is, the more severe the stage of the disease).

Characteristic "N" allows you to assess how much the brain cancer has spread to adjacent lymph nodes. When conducting an analysis, pay attention to the number of affected lymph nodes and their size. The characteristic is described by a numerical value in the range from 0 to 2 (the higher it is, the more severe the disease).

Characteristic "M" allows you to assess the presence and number of distant metastases. The number "0" next to the letter M indicates the absence of metastases. Another number indicates their presence. The numerical index can be anything that allows you to clarify the affected system or organ and makes it possible to obtain more information about the danger of the disease.

To describe each specific stage of brain cancer, several codes are used, including T, N and M characteristics.

Treatment of brain cancer

For the treatment of brain cancer, complex therapy is used, which may include:

Symptomatic therapy, which does not eliminate the cause of the disease, but reduces its manifestations, prolonging the life of the patient or improving its quality;
Surgery. This method of treatment is the most effective, however, it can be complicated by the localization of the tumor in the vital parts of the brain. The greatest effectiveness in brain surgery is provided by the use of laser and ultrasound techniques;
radiation therapy;
Chemotherapy.

However, despite the treatment of brain cancer, the life of a patient with this disease only in 25% of cases exceeds 2 years.

Most tumors can only be removed by surgery. We recommend that you carefully consider the site of the operation for a brain tumor.

The main feature of the course of brain cancer is the high probability of recurrence.

Brain cancer is a malignant tumor that affects tissues and parts of an organ. Among the total number of oncological diseases, brain cancer occurs in 5-6% of cases. Cancer formations are distinguished from benign tumors by rapid development, the ability to spread to other tissues and organs (metastasis).

Types of brain cancer

Cancer of the brain is a collective term for malignant lesions of an organ. Oncological formations are classified depending on the place of localization:

Damage to the cranial nerves characterizes neurinoma;
Glioma develops in nerve tissues;
Sarcoma develops in connective tissue cells;
Meningioma affects the meninges;
A pituitary adenoma is localized in the gland.

Based on the etiology of tumors, there are:

Hormone-dependent malignancies (most common in women). The type of cancerous tumors is provoked by hormonal disruptions that occur due to pregnancy, long-term use of oral contraceptives, IVF;
Cancer formations formed on the basis of chemical, radiation damage;
Cancer formation of a traumatic nature;
Tumors of a congenital nature, which are the result of anomalies in the development of the fetus during the embryonic period;
Hereditary predisposition, genetic factor;
Severe viral infections (HIV).

Cancers of the brain are primary or secondary:

Primary malignant neoplasm is formed from the tissues of the brain, cranial nerves, membranes;

Secondary - is a subsidiary malignant formation that has spread from the main source. In the brain, a secondary oncological tumor develops as a result of metastasis from a cancerous focus localized in another organ.

Signs of brain cancer

The first manifestations of brain cancer are characterized by:

Headache is the main symptom of brain cancer. The pain syndrome can be of a different nature and intensity, it manifests itself regularly or is constantly present. At the initial stage of tumor development, there is a regular manifestation of pain of a pressing nature, with the growth of the neoplasm, the pain intensifies, becomes painful, the patient's condition reaches a loss of consciousness;
Against the background of headaches, bouts of dizziness may occur. Such conditions appear for no reason. In most cases, dizziness occurs when the cerebellum is damaged. The growth of education is accompanied by a violation of consciousness, the occurrence of hallucinations, disorders of spatial orientation;
Visual disturbances. At the initial stages of the development of pathology, visual disturbances are possible (disturbances in spatial perception, bifurcation of objects, decreased visual acuity), which occur periodically. With the development of an oncotumor, such signs of brain cancer appear more and more often;
Rapid weight loss. Due to the development of cancer cells, there is a violation of metabolic processes, which leads to a rapid depletion of the body;
Attacks of vomiting. One of the telltale signs of brain cancer is nausea and vomiting. At the initial stage of the disease, the condition occurs mainly in the morning, with the development of the disease, it is present regardless of the time of day, the position of the patient's body, food intake;
Rapid fatigue. As a result of the activation of cancer cells, the body is poisoned by the products of their vital activity, as a result, all processes are disrupted. A person gets tired even without the slightest physical exertion;
One of the symptoms of brain cancer is a constant increase in temperature, as a response of the immune system to a cancerous lesion.

Causes of brain cancer

The causes of brain cancer are not fully understood. Scientists came to a consensus only about the factors provoking the development of this pathology:

hereditary predisposition. In some cases, the disease can be passed down through the genes. The most common option is the development of pathology through a generation;
Hormonal disorders;
Prolonged exposure to radiation. Various types of radiation are one of the factors provoking the development of cancers;
Chemical poisoning of the body. Oncological diseases develop as a result of the negative impact on humans of various chemical compounds (lead, mercury, vinyl chloride);
At risk are people with bad habits: alcohol abuse, excessive smoking. As a result of regular poisoning of the body, disorders at the cellular level, there is a degeneration of healthy cells into abnormal, cancerous ones. This provokes the development of cancer;
Severe immune system disorders: HIV, AIDS, organ transplants.

How to recognize brain cancer: necessary diagnostic procedures

If cancer is suspected, the specialist will prescribe the necessary examination. Due to timely detection, pathology can be identified at the initial stage, when the disease is treatable. Diagnosis of brain cancer combines the main methods:

Computed tomography (CT). The examination allows you to identify the exact localization, size, type of neoplasm. Carrying out CT makes it possible to assess the degree of influence of the tumor on nearby tissues, circulatory disorders in the affected area;
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). The procedure allows you to examine the tumor in detail in different planes, a three-dimensional model of the neoplasm is built. During the examination, the size of the tumor and its effect on nearby tissues are accurately determined. The complex structures of the brain are examined in detail, the degree of its damage is assessed;

Additional diagnostic methods of examination are:

PET (positron emission tomography), which is a clarifying study of CT and MRI;
SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography), which is used to detect abnormal cells after treatment. It is used after MRI, CT, to accurately determine the degree of malignancy (low, high);
MEG (magnetoencephalography). With the help of the procedure, the functioning of various areas of the brain is assessed;
Lumbar puncture (spinal). The procedure is carried out to take material from the cerebrospinal fluid and further study it for the presence of cancer cells;
MRI angiography, used to detect blood flow disorders;
Biopsy. The procedure allows you to determine the type of cancer cells.

Stages of development of pathology

A cancerous neoplasm in its development goes through several stages. Depending on the stage, the patient shows various signs.

The main stages of the development of pathology:

Initial (first). The most dangerous stage of cancer. At this stage, a person develops a small number of cancer cells, a malignant neoplasm is characterized by slow growth. If initial symptoms occur (unexpressed headaches, rare bouts of nausea, dizziness), surgery may be performed and a favorable outcome;
Medium (second stage). At this stage, growth of the neoplasm is observed, its ingrowth into other brain tissues. The main clinical signs of the second stage are: dizziness, headaches, sometimes nausea and vomiting (not related to food intake). At the second stage of the development of pathology, surgical treatment is possible, a favorable outcome;
Moderate (third stage) brain cancer. There is an accelerated growth of cancer cells. They spread to large areas of healthy tissue. At this stage, surgical intervention is not successful, the pathology at this stage cannot be cured. At this stage of the development of the disease, maintenance drug therapy is possible;
Severe (fourth stage). It is the most dangerous, oncological tumors are not amenable to surgical treatment, lead to death. The person fades very quickly.

Treatment of brain cancer

Brain cancer is a type of cancer that is more difficult to treat than other types. To effectively combat pathology, an integrated approach is often used that combines surgery, radiosurgical intervention, and radio irradiation. The main task of brain cancer therapy is not only the removal of tumor formation, but also the prevention of recurrence (re-development of the tumor). In the initial stages, oncological formation responds faster to treatment, the percentage of a successful outcome is quite high.

Among the methods of combating brain cancer, there are:

Surgery or removal of brain cancer. This method is the main method of influencing oncotumor. During the operation, the specialist tries to remove the entire affected area. Such an approach is not possible with extensive oncological lesions of the organ. Therefore, with a pronounced degree of damage, chemotherapy and radiation are preliminarily carried out to reduce the volume of malignant damage;
Stereotactic surgery. The method is the most modern and effective. The essence of the operation lies in the local impact on the affected areas. During the intervention, the beam affects the tumor cells, nearby healthy tissues are practically not damaged. This feature significantly increases the effectiveness of the operation, minimizes side effects;
radiotherapy effect. The essence of the method is the effect of radioactive substances on the tissues of the body. The effectiveness of the method lies in the special sensitivity of atypical cells to radioactive effects. The cells are destroyed, the brain tumor dies. The method is carried out in courses, their duration and frequency depend on the stage of the pathology and the volume of the cancerous tumor. This type of therapy is effective before and after surgery;
Chemotherapeutic direction. The essence of the procedure is the impact on the oncological tumor with aggressive drugs that disrupt the functioning and viability of cancer cells, gradually destroying them. The complex of necessary medicines, the specialist selects individually, taking into account the characteristics of the patient. The drugs may be in the form of injections or tablets. Chemotherapy is carried out in courses. Despite the high efficiency, the therapeutic direction has a lot of side effects;

rehabilitation period

In addition to the main therapy, the patient needs a long recovery course. It is necessary to adhere to a special diet, visit a psychologist, a speech therapist, perform a special course of therapeutic physical exercises to restore physical activity. In some cases, after the treatment, the patient may have the negative consequences of brain cancer: convulsive conditions, epileptic seizures. In such situations, the optimal prescription of drugs.

An important role in maintaining the body in the post-therapeutic period is played by diet therapy. During illness, before and after surgery (or course of therapy), the patient most often has no appetite. However, the body needs a regular and carefully balanced diet, which is necessary to restore strength, fight brain cancer. In the diet of the patient should be present vegetables and fruits, cereals in large quantities. The use of low-fat varieties of fish and meat is recommended. Eating should be frequent and in small portions, the patient should not force himself to overeat.

It is necessary to abandon excessively sweet, salty, fatty foods, smoked meats and preservatives. Stop drinking coffee and strong tea.

Prognosis for brain cancer

Timely detection and adequate treatment gives more chances for a successful outcome. In cases where the pathology was detected at the first (initial) stage, the number of surviving cancer patients, within 5 years, reaches 80% of cases.

Unfortunately, in late stage 4 brain cancer, in most cases, is not treatable. Within 5 years, after the necessary treatment, the survival rate among patients is not so high - 60% of cases.

The incidence of malignant brain tumors among oncological diseases is 1.5%. And although they are less common than many other cancers, the first signs of brain cancer often disguise themselves as common, common diseases.

Therefore, when symptoms of a tumor appear, especially in the case of their frequent repetition, it is urgent to undergo an examination. What are these symptoms, and how many can there be? More on this later in the article.

Malignant brain tumors are the most dangerous among cancers.

Features of brain tumors

Depending on the type of cells that were the source of the development of the neoplasm, tumors are divided into subtypes. For example:

meninges;
from cells belonging to the pituitary gland;
directly from brain cells;
cranial nerve tumors;
tumors resulting from metastases from other parts of the body.

In the process of its growth, the tumor increases in size, presses on the structures adjacent to it, causing symptoms that are called “primary (focal), or “local”. In addition, education leads to the appearance of general disorders in the brain, which manifest themselves as symptoms called cerebral.

Cerebral symptoms

Often education does not manifest itself in any way until the appearance of serious changes in the brain.

It happens that the primary symptoms are so minor that they are not paid attention to, or mistaken for another disease.

General symptoms of brain cancer

These include headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Such symptoms occur when intracranial pressure increases or certain brain structures are compressed.

Headache

This symptom appears earlier and more often than the others (about 90% of cases). With brain tumors, pain in the head at the onset of the disease is manifested by seizures. It is characterized by: constancy, high intensity and resistance to analgesics. It intensifies during coughing or sneezing, defecation, when turning the head, that is, with any physical exertion.

Most often, a headache in brain cancer is accompanied by bursting sensations.

It is removed, as a rule, by lowering intracranial pressure with the help of medications.

Dizziness

The tumor, growing, causes disturbances in the blood supply to the brain structures. Lack of oxygen, hypoxia, causes dizziness. Also, the cause of this may be compression of the cerebellum and disorders in the vestibular apparatus. This is expressed in the form of rotation around its axis, as if a person is turning or, conversely, objects are moving around him. Such sensations can occur systematically, both in the case of a certain position of the head, and suddenly, regardless of the posture.

Vomiting and nausea

If the tumor originated in the midbrain, then, in the process of increasing, it can put pressure on the vomiting center. As a result of his overexcitation, a person constantly feels nausea. In the case when intracranial pressure rises, nausea turns into severe vomiting. The sensitivity of the center varies from person to person, so the severity of nausea and the intensity of the gag reflex will also be different. In some cases, a person is unable to even eat or drink water, as any irritation of the oral mucosa leads to vomiting.

Nausea and vomiting in brain cancer is especially pronounced in the morning

Focal symptoms of a brain tumor

Symptoms of this group occur with pathological proliferation of cells in a certain area of the brain.

It should be noted that in each case some individual symptoms predominate, different from those of other people.

In addition, some of them manifest themselves so insignificantly that people live with them for a long time.

Disorders of the autonomic nervous system. Occur with an increase in intoxication of the body, loss of control of the state of the tone of the vascular walls. Manifested by lethargy, weakness, indifference. It is difficult for a person to get up, move around, he experiences drops in blood pressure and arrhythmia.
Speech disorders (oral and written). They arise as a result of the destruction by tumor cells of the corresponding parts of the cerebral cortex. In the first stages of the disease, the speech of adults becomes slurred, illegible. The same thing happens with handwriting. In the future, there may be a complete loss of the ability to write and speak.

When a tumor of the speech center is affected, speech impairment is observed.

Memory impairment. It also occurs when a tumor grows in the cerebral cortex. Depending on the speed of the pathological process, memory may be lost partially or completely.
Loss of sensation. They are expressed in the loss of the ability of human skin to perceive any irritation from the outside. His tactile and pain receptors do not work, he does not feel cold or warm. In addition, a person loses a sense of himself in space, that is, he cannot determine in what position he is at the moment (with his eyes closed).
Visual disturbances. Decrease, and then loss (complete or partial) of vision occurs when the tumor is located in the optic nerve. In this case, the nerve impulse from the retina does not reach the cerebral cortex. If the neoplasm occurs in the cortex itself, in the place where the analysis of what is seen takes place, then the nerve signals reach the cortex, but are not recognized. In this case, a person may not understand what is written, or may not recognize the surrounding objects.
Disorders of coordination of movements. Expressed in instability (especially without visual control), unsteady gait, inability to make precise movements.

With a tumor of the cerebellum, unsteadiness of gait may appear

The occurrence of hallucinations. It can be both visual and auditory disorders. Auditory hallucinations manifest as tinnitus, extraneous sounds, or ringing. For visual characteristic: flashes of light, dots, "flies" or blurry images. The first symptoms are rare and, as a rule, are associated not with the disease, but with fatigue or overexertion (nervous or physical), weather, and so on. This results in a significant loss of time.
Mental disorders. Changes in the psychological and cognitive sphere are expressed by such symptoms as absent-mindedness, inability to concentrate, memory problems. In addition, a person whose tumor is growing becomes irritable, it is difficult for him to communicate with others, he has symptoms of psychopathy.
Manifestation of epilepsy and seizures. At an early stage of a brain tumor, mainly convulsive contractions of certain parts of the body or muscle groups are observed. As the disease progresses, seizures become more frequent and prolonged, affect larger areas, and then give way to epileptic seizures. Such disorders are caused by prolonged excitation of a certain area of the cerebral cortex.

At-risk groups

With the periodic appearance of such signs, it is necessary to contact a specialist without delay and undergo an examination.

The most informative in this regard are computed and magnetic resonance imaging.

MRI and CT are decisive steps in the diagnosis of a brain tumor

In case of timely treatment, brain tumors at an early stage of growth are cured in 80% of cases. And how long do they live if it comes to stages 2-3? The scores are halved.

Among adults who are most likely to develop a brain tumor, the following groups are distinguished:

having malignant formations in any organ;
who have suffered a head injury;
with genetic diseases of the brain;
having constant contact with carcinogens.