All About Brain Cancer

Patients who are diagnosed with brain cancer have several options, depending on the tumor type and stage. Patients may receive surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy. Often, management approach is a combination of any of the three.

In addition, patient may require treatment of other problems that arise from the main illness or as side effects of therapy. This is called supportive care.

Craniotomy is the surgical opening of the skull to access the brain. It is done under general anesthesia. The patient’s head is shaved, after which the surgeon makes the first incision. The surgeon then uses a special saw to remove a piece of bone from the skull. After removing part or all of the tumor, the surgeon covers the opening in the skull with that piece of bone or with a piece of metal or fabric. The surgeon then closes the incision in the scalp.

Side effects of surgery include headache, tiredness, edema or swelling in the brain, and infection.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 8th, 2009 @ 12:08 pm on the category Management and Therapy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.