Sadly, cancer affects many people and families each year. The pain and suffering this disease inflicts is immeasurable. Brain cancer is one of the worst types of cancer because if often is not found until late in the cycle.
If a person has symptoms, such as severe headaches or seizures, there are many ways to test for this disease. First a doctor will perform a physical and neurological exam. These exams test a person’s alertness, general physical wellness, coordination, muscle strength, and other physical attributes. After the physical and neurological exams, the doctor can order a CT scan to look for tumors in the brain. A CT scan is an x-ray of the brain. It can be used to find other diseases that affect the brain in addition to cancer.
Beyond a CT scan, there are several other ways to look for brain tumors, such as MRI technology, angiograms, skull x-rays, spinal taps, and different types of biopsies. MRIs use powerful magnets to take detailed images of any body part and can see if there is a tumor in the brain. An angiogram is a test where they inject dye into a specific area of the body. When this dye is injected into the brain, it makes the tissue more visible to doctors during an x-ray.
In a spinal tap test, the doctor removes a small sample of the patient’s cerebrospinal fluid. This fluid, which fills your brain and spine, is than tested by a laboratory for cancerous cells and other signs of brain cancer.
If suspicious cells are found, a biopsy may be performed. A biopsy is when doctors remove tissue to test for malignant cells. Several methods exist for performing a biopsy. One type of biopsy is called a needle biopsy. During this procedure, the doctor drills a very small hole through the top of the scalp at the location of the brain tumor. This hole penetrates the skull and is called a burr hole. After the hole is drilled, the doctor will remove a sample of the tissue from the tumor and send it off to be tested.
Sometimes doctors take a sample of a tumor to test for cancer while they are removing the tumor from the brain. A biopsy is one of the most effective ways to find out if a tumor is cancerous, but it is not available in every situation. If the tumor is located on the brain stem, or other dangerous areas of the brain, a biopsy cannot be performed.
Brain cancer is one of deadliest forms of cancer. One reason for the high mortality rate is the location of the cancer. Many treatments will not work on cancer located in the brain. In addition, annual preventative tests are not run on your brain to check for diseases. For that reason, most cases of brain cancer are not discovered until the symptoms begin. Unfortunately, that can be too late in a lot of cases.
Frank j Vanderlugt owns and operates http://www.cancer-cure-now.com Conventional Theories Of Cancer Development
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Posts
Post a Comment