It is thought that most people will develop some sort of cancer in their lifetime. The good news is that as the medical world’s understanding of cancer in all its forms increases, so does the survival rate and the treatment options available to cancer sufferers.
Survival is, however, highly dependent on the type of cancer someone has and at what stage of development the disease is at during diagnosis. Some cancers, such as brain tumours, present themselves with specific symptoms leading to more rapid diagnosis.
With this in mind, what treatments are available for brain tumour patients in particular?
Surgery is often a treatment option for many tumours associated with various cancers, including brain tumours. However, this option is highly dependent on the positioning and size of the tumour itself.
Since the brain is a delicate organ, a neurosurgeon must be confident that the tumour can be removed without causing damage to any surrounding brain tissue that might lead to paralysis or issues with things like speech and balance.
During surgery, a neurosurgeon often removes as much of the tumour as possible. This can help reduce symptoms and improve the patient’s overall quality of life. This treatment can often be combined with other treatment options, especially if there is thought to be a risk of the cancer spreading to other parts of the body.
Radiation therapy has improved over the years thanks to more sophisticated equipment that can target radiation more precisely than before to specific tumours in various parts of the body.
Radiation therapy uses rays to kill cancer cells, preventing them from multiplying and spreading throughout the body. This treatment can be used alone or in combination with surgery or chemotherapy to help shrink brain tumours and prevent them from growing back.
Chemotherapy uses combinations of powerful anti-cancer drugs to help shrink or slow the growth of brain tumours and other forms of cancer. This can help extend the life expectancy of brain tumour sufferers and also ease some of the symptoms associated with this form of cancer.
Chemotherapy is not always the first choice of treatment when treating individuals with brain tumours, but even though there are side effects, chemotherapy can be useful where surgery is no longer an option due to the positioning of brain tumours.
As the name suggests, targeted therapy targets the various possible causes of brain tumour development, such as specific genes and proteins that help increase the odds of developing a brain tumour.
This approach can help block the pathways that lead to tumour growth and spread while minimising damage to healthy cells.
Immunotherapy helps to boost the body’s immune system to help fight diseases such as cancer. This form of therapy is mostly reserved for more advanced forms of cancer and tumours that have failed to respond to other conventional treatments, such as those already mentioned above.
It is also a treatment option for cancers that have returned, such as recurring brain tumours, even when other treatments have been completed. This can be a valuable treatment option for such brain tumours as it improves the immune system’s ability to recognise, fight, and destroy tumours and cancer cells.
The world of cancer therapy is a constantly evolving one that relies on the introduction of new drugs and other forms of treatment that need to be tested on humans.
Patients who participate in so-called clinical trials may have access to cutting-edge treatments that are not yet widely available to the public. This can provide hope and new options for patients with difficult-to-treat brain tumours. All clinical trials are carried out in controlled and medically supervised conditions for patient safety.