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Brain cancer surgery is the commonest form of treating tumors and cancers in the brain.
Craniotomy
Craniotomy is a surgery of the skull. This type of surgery normally starts after a general anesthesia. The first procedure is the shaving of the scalp. During the surgery, the doctor makes an incision on the scalp and removes a piece of bone from the skull with the help of a special type of tool called the saw. Besides this, he also removes the tumor parts from the skull and covers the opening with that bone which he had removed initially before the surgery. After this, he closes the incision.
When is brain surgery not possible?
It is not always possible to opt for surgery for brain cancer. Imbalance and lack of co-ordination could damage the brain. Thus, the patient has to be comfortable before a surgery. This is one of the prerequisites of a brain surgery also. The doctor looks for tumors. Sometimes the tumor is in the stem of the brain. A surgery in the brain stem might result in damaging the related brain tissues. Radiation is a good treatment for such patients.
Post Surgical Care
After a brain cancer surgery, normally we see the following condition
- Headache and discomfort: Generally, the person feels uncomfortable in the initial days of the surgery. Medicine relieves this discomfort.
- Fatigue and weakness: A certain amount of tiredness, fatigue and weakness is a common occurrence post surgery. Each patient has his own way of recovering after the surgery.
- Edema: There are cases where a fluid called the cerebrospinal fluid fills the brain. Steroids give the patient relief. In such cases, the patient requires another surgery for Brain cancer. This is to drain off the accumulated fluid. A thin tube called the shunt helps in draining the fluid. This lies in the ventricle of the brain and joins another body part under the skin. Usually this part is the abdomen. The procedure involves taking out of the excess fluid from the brain and draining it out. Sometimes the fluid drains into the heart also.
- Infection: A doctor gives a patient an antibiotic if he has an infection.
Effects of Brain Cancer Surgery
A brain cancer surgery normally damages the tissues of the brain. This sometimes is a very serious problem. Patients face problems like problems of thought process, sight, speech and personality problems. Seizures are common effects after a brain cancer surgery. Such people need behavioral therapy, occupation therapy, speech therapy etc. Damage to the brain is permanent, though the other effects wear off with passage of time.
Possible Points to be Remembered before a Surgery
The person who is going to undergo a surgery could be worried about how he would feel after the operation. He also is not sure about how he would be able to bear the pain and feel comfortable. He could worry about the duration of his hospital stay. The patient is also worried about whether his hair would grow back, and if the metal or fabric that is used to cover the opening of the skull would have any ill effects. The patient would want to get back to his normal life and he would worry about when he could do it.
Surgery and Radiation
Surgery removes the cancerous growth in the brain. Sometimes, we find the tumor in the stem of the brain. At such times, the patient opts for radiation or any other treatment.
Radiation therapy is a procedure, which uses high-energy rays. These kill cells, which are tumorous. Radiation includes X-rays, gamma rays or protons. Thus, radiation therapy involves giving the organ treatment with high frequency rays. These rays detect the growth and then the doctor can find out a course of action. Radiation is the best way to treat growths in the brain or spinal cord. Radiation could be of the following types:
- Fractionation: The entire radiation protects the tissues in the tumor area.
- Hyperfractionation: This involves a reduced radiation. The quantity of radiation is in small quantities. The dosage could be thrice a day instead of an entire dose a day.
- Stereotactic radiation therapy: Beams of radiation when beamed on the tumor at different angles, gives the radiation. An MRI or CT scan gives the images.
- Three dimensional conformal radiation therapy: This involves creating a three dimensional image of the tumor and the surrounding brain tissues and then treating only the affected part to radiation.
- Chemotherapy: This involves oral or injected drugs to kill the growth of cancerous cells.
Depending on the growth, the doctor opts for surgery or radiation whichever he feels is the best.
