Understanding Your Brain Cancer Treatment Options
Brain cancer is an overgrowth of cells in your brain that create tumors. Depending on the type of tumor, growth can be rapidly leading to a disruption of your body's functions, and in some cases, it can be a life-threatening issue. While there might be over 120 types of brain tumors, brain cancer is one of the less common forms of cancer.
Still, knowing the symptoms, risks, and treatment options available can help you find and treat brain cancer early on.
What Are The Main Risk Factors of Brain Cancer?
Brain cancer can sometimes occur when cancer in another area of the body spreads or metastasizes to the brain. Some of these cancers include lung, breast, kidney, and bladder cancer. Other factors that increase your risk of brain cancer include age and long-term smoking.
What Are The Symptoms of Brain Cancer?
The onset of symptoms that occur can vary in range. Often these symptoms depend on the location and size of the tumor.
Some common symptoms for those diagnosed with brain cancer include:
It's important to know that many of these symptoms are also caused by less serious conditions, but if persistent symptoms do occur, you'll want to speak to your doctor to find the root cause.<.p>
What Are The Treatment Options for Brain Cancer?
Treatment is always a personalized process, unique to the patient, but there are a wide variety of options for those recently diagnosed with brain cancer. What your doctor will suggest will be based on the type, size, and location. If the cancer is primary brain cancer or spread from another form, it will also alter your treatment options. Your cancer care treatment might be planned out according to your age and general health factors.
Surgery is the most common form of treatment, but others might need chemotherapy or radiation therapy, too. In some advanced stages and in more recent years, immunotherapy might be a part of your treatment plan for solid tumors. Overall, patients between the ages of 20 to 44 may have a survival rate of 90 percent for five years or longer, making seeking treatment for symptoms a must early on.