Brain Cancer: Symptoms, Complications and Treatment

Meaning of Brain Cancer

Cancer is a disease that occurs due to the abnormal growth and multiplication of cells in a person’s body and may even spread to the other parts of the body through lymphatic system or blood. Brain Cancer refers to the presence of such abnormal cells in a person’s brain. Based on their occurrence, these cancerous tumors may be of two types: 

• Primary Tumors- Cancerous cell growth whose place of origin is the brain are known as primary tumors.
• Brain Metastasis Tumors- Secondary tumors that spread from some other part of the body to the brain are called brain metastasis tumors.

Brain cancers or brain tumors are one of the most dangerous forms of cancer because the brain is the most important of a person’s body, which if effected, leads to abnormalities in the whole body.

Symptoms of Brain Cancer

The brain cancer symptoms are experienced by a person even if the tumor present in the brain is not cancerous. Brain cancer symptoms depend on the position of the tumor in the brain. Given below is a list of such symptoms that may occur to a person with brain tumors:

• Headaches which are severe in morning and go away after vomiting.
• Problems related to muscles like difficulty in walking, pain in legs and arms, etc.
• Blurred vision, sleepiness, seizure, memory loss.
• Inabilities to speak, talk, and form sentences.
• Decreased sense of touch and pain.

Apart from these, common behavioral changes like anger, depression, and temper tantrums may also some of the brain cancer symptoms.

Diagnosis of Brain Cancer

You must immediately consult a doctor if any of the brain cancer symptoms ARE visible in your body. Explaining the symptoms to the doctors helps them in getting a better idea of the tumor. For the diagnosis of brain cancer, the doctor may ask a patient to undergo the following processes.

• Neurological tests- It includes checking the balance, hearing, vision, coordination, strength, and reflexes of a person.
• Imaging- It includes tests like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computerized Tomography (CT). The MRI and CT scan helps in getting an image of the part of the brain with the tumor.  
• Biopsy- The removal of cancerous tissues from a person’s body is called a biopsy. In this, doctors examine the tissues of the tumor and to check for abnormal cell growth and its multiplication.
• Spinal Tap- In this, the cerebrospinal fluid is taken out of the patient’s body to check for cancer-causing cells.

Causes of Brain Cancer

Brain Cancers can occur in anyone at any point in their lives. Given below are some of the causes for the same:

• Family history- The cause may be rare, but there are quite a few families in which many people are affected by brain cancers or brain tumors.
• Ionizing Radiation- Damaging of tissues and formation of tumors may occur due to prolonged exposure to some high radiations like X-rays.
• Gene Changes- The change in the genes of a person’s brain cells may be one of the reasons for brain cancer.

Prevention of Brain Cancer

As it is said, “Prevention is better than cure,” one must try the following preventions in order to minimize their chances of getting a brain cancer:

• Stay away from mobile devices- Mobile phones radiate emissions that can cause harm to the tissues of the body. Therefore, one must minimize their usage in order to keep themselves from high radiation exposure.
• Restrict your calories- Calorie restriction helps in minimizing the cancer cell growth rate by not letting them metabolize and also prevents inflammation.
• Ketogenic diet- It is said that cancer cells grow due to glycolysis. Therefore, in order to minimize their growth, one must consume ketogenic diet as these cells cannot metabolize ketones.

Treatment of Brain Cancer

There are many treatments for brain cancer. However, their success rate depends entirely on a person’s body, and the way it responds to these treatments and medications. Some of the treatments for brain cancer are given below:

• Surgery- If the tumor is present in an accessible part of the brain, then the first choice for treatment is surgery in which tumor cells are removed from the brain by a professional.
• Radiation Therapy- It involves the destruction of the cancerous tumor cells by radiations from an external source.
• Chemotherapy- In chemotherapy, drugs are either taken orally or injected into a person’s body in order to remove the cancer-causing cells from a person’s body.

Complications with Brain Cancer

As the brain is the essential part of the human body, treatment of brain cancer can lead to several other health risks and complications. Some of them are:

• Swelling of the brain
• Feelings like sadness, depression, etc.
• Collection of fluids in some parts of the brain
• Seizures

After treatment of brain cancer, one must be prepared for such symptoms in their body.

Homemade Remedies for Brain Cancer

Some of the homemade remedies for the prevention and cure of brain cancer are given below:

• Ginger- It helps in reducing headache, feeling of nausea, vomiting, etc.
• Turmeric Powder- It helps in reducing inflammation in any part of the body.
• Vegetable Juices- One must lots of vegetable and fruit juices in order to minimize the cancer cell growth in the body.
• Folic Acid- One must consume food items like rice, leafy vegetables, etc. in order to get relief from the brain cancer symptoms.

Did You Know? (Trivia)

• Brain cancer is one of the rarest forms of cancer in the World.
• Brain tumors have no known causes and their symptoms are also not very obvious.