Treatments can involve surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Doctors will tailor treatment to fit individual situation. If the patient’s condition is not severe, the chance for cure is high and the risk of surgery is low, the doctor will work for complete surgical removal. Some patients have to receive supplementary medications or radiotherapy for a period of time after surgery to prevent from recurrence.
Treatment options include:
Surgery
Surgery is the primary form of treatment for tumors. The doctor will open the skull of the patient and remove as much of the brain tumor as possible. In some cases, tumors are located near sensitive areas in the brain, making surgery risky. In these cases the doctor may try to remove as much of the tumor as is safe. The remaining portions will be removed by radiation therapy or chemotherapy.
As minimally invasive surgery techniques are increasingly refined, surgeons are able to remove the tumors more effectively and safely, while the scope for removing the tumors is expanded. It also increases the chances of recovery and reduces the side effects.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays to kill tumor cells and reduce the damage to the surrounding healthy cells. In recent years, doctors have used more advanced radiation therapies, such as intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT). They can increase the dose of radiation to kill the tumor cells and spare normal tissues.
Radiation therapy usually follows surgery. In some cases, it is used along with chemotherapy. The immediate risks of radiation therapy are lower than that of surgery. Still, there are complications such as hydrocephalus, hair loss, headache, nausea, vomiting, and skin may become red and sore.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Common drugs include Temozolmide or Carmustine, BCNU. Chemotherapy drugs can be taken orally or injected into a vein so that they enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body to destroy cancer cells. However, they can also damage healthy cells and may cause side effects such as vomiting, dizziness, hair loss, fatigue and infection.
Another type of chemotherapy can be placed during surgery. The surgeon removes the tumor and place several wafers in the void left by the tumor. They directly release the chemotherapy drug into the brain which kills cancer cells. It can reduce the chance of spreading the drugs to other areas and thus cause damage to the healthy cells.
Targeted drug therapy
It is a comparatively new therapy. Targeted drug treatments focus on specific abnormalities present within cancer cells. Drugs are given through a vein to stop the formation of blood vessels, cutting off blood supply to a tumor and cause cancer cells to die. Many targeted drug therapies are very new and still undergoing study in clinical trials.