About brain tumor

Introduction
When asking "brain tumor", there are many people who seems to be such as "Is it a very scary disease?" "Can it be cancer?" "Why does it become"? Brain tumors occur at a frequency of about 19 people per 100,000 people and are seen in every generation from infants to the elderly. Here I will briefly explain the brain tumor.

What is a brain tumor?
Brain tumor is a generic term for tumors occurring in the skull. Inside the skull, there are brain / meningeal (mucosa), cranial nerve, pituitary gland (macaque), blood vessels and so on. Tumors arising from these tissues are collectively referred to as primary brain tumors . On the contrary, we distinguish tumor metastasizing from other parts of the body as primary tumor as metastatic brain tumor .
In Kumamoto Prefecture, approximately 400 primary brain tumors and about 200 metastatic brain tumors each year (estimated to be over 600 cases actually) have been found each year.

Types and causes of brain tumors
Types and features
Although
it shares the same point that it occurs in the head of the primary brain tumor (intracranial), its kind varies depending on the type and nature of the cell (Fig. 1).　
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The most common is meningioma . Due to recent advances in diagnostic imaging, there are increasing cases (asymptomatic) that happen to be found even without symptoms. Meningioma is slow to increase (0 - 2 mm a year), and it is curable if it is totally removed. In the elderly, one person is found in about 40 people, and in the case of asymptomatic nature, images are taken every 6 months to 1 year to observe the follow up.
The next most common is glioma (glioma) . There are also several kinds of this glioma. Among them, those called glioblastomas grow quickly and sometimes fall into a dangerous state in several months after symptoms appear. Although it is representative of brain tumor that is difficult to cure, recently radiation and medication therapy has advanced and treatment outcomes are improving. I am doing treatment in cooperation with Kumamoto University neurosurgery.
Pituitary adenomas are tumors arising from the pituitary gland and can be seen in the 20s to the elderly. As the tumor grows, visual disturbance and field narrowing are caused. Endocrine symptoms such as lactation, infertility, loss of libido and motivation, increase in body fat, hirsutism, etc. may occur in hormone-producing ones. It enables safe and less burden surgery using internal therapy and neuroendoscopy.

Metastatic brain
tumor This is a tumor that metastasizes from the rest of the body to the brain. Lung cancer is the most common primary lesion, followed by breast cancer, colon cancer, and stomach cancer (Figure 2).
Brain tumor _ page _ 2
Symptoms vary in the place where it metastasized to the brain.

Cause
The cause of brain tumor is genetic abnormality, radiation of high dose, aging etc, but further things are still unknown now. The possibility of gender differences, racial differences, family history of brain tumors, etc. is also considered, but I do not know what was clear.

Main symptoms (Figure 3)
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There are three main symptoms of brain tumor as follows.
(1) Chronic headaches and nausea
It is said that persistent, irregular headache often accompanies nausea and vomiting at the time of getting up. Unlike subarachnoid hemorrhage, suddenly it is not often attacked by a strong headache.
(2) Local symptoms (nest symptoms)
Various symptoms appear depending on where the tumor has formed. "Numbness / limb paralysis" "words are not fine" "Some view, blurred," Personality changed "and others.
(3) Convulsive seizure It
is caused by a brain current short-circuiting due to brain tumor. Treatment with anticonvulsant.

Inspection (Figure 4)
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Basically, we first do image diagnosis. In particular CT (computed tomography) and MRI (nuclear magnetic resonance image) are common. There are also things understood by blood test (tumor marker, hormone test). If necessary, investigate the tumor tissue itself. This is to know the type and the degree of malignancy of brain tumor in detail, and the treatment policy is decided from this result.

Treatment
The treatment of brain tumor varies according to the type. First, we diagnose the type of tumor accurately and decide the treatment policy. If surgery to remove all tumors is good, radiation therapy, chemotherapy (medication therapy), and combining them (collective treatment) are available. In addition, it may be good to follow up without treatment and it is necessary for an experienced doctor to understand the pathology of brain cancer well.
Even after surgery and radiotherapy treatment, we have to visit the hospital regularly for a while and see the progress. In the periodic medical examination, we perform image inspection and blood test.

Finally
About 70% of brain tumors are said to be treatable benign tumors. It is important to ask the specialist to check early if "I feel something wrong ... ...", "Something strange ...". If you can detect it at an early stage, it will be easier to treat as much.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.