Brain Tumor Research Paper

Did you know there are 120 types of brain and central nervous system tumors that exist (“Understanding Brain Tumors”)? What is a brain tumor? A brain tumor is a collection, or mass, of abnormal cells in your brain (Lights, Verneda). In order to know more about brain tumors, people should understand the diagnosis, anatomy of the brain, grades, types, and treatment of brain tumors. The first step in finding a tumor is diagnosis. There are a variety of ways to be diagnosed for having a tumor. The first way is to have a neurologic exam that checks things like vision, hearing, alertness, muscle strength, coordination, reflexes, and the eyes because there could be a tumor pressing on the nerve connecting the eye to the brain (“What You Need To Know
One being not as bad-to four being the worst. A grade refers to the way the cells look under the microscope ("What You Need To Know About™ Brain Tumors."). If the doctor says that the tissue is grade one, that means the tissue is benign (or noncancerous), the cells look almost normal, and they grow normally. Grade two means that the tissue is malignant (or cancerous) and the cells look less like the normal cells ("Understanding Brain Tumors.").Grade three means that the malignant cells look different from the normal cells and the abnormal cells grow fastly. If the doctor were to say the tissue is grade four, that means that the malignant cells look most abnormal and grow even more quickly. Also with grades of tumors comes types of tumors ("What You Need To Know About™ Brain
The first option is surgery. Basically the surgeon would do a craniotomy, open the patient up depending on where the tumor was, and cut it out ("Craniotomy - Procedure Overview."). Another option is to have radiation therapy. Radiation therapy uses high-energy beams to kill tumor cells. The therapy can come from beams outside of the body (external beam radiation), but sometimes, doctors can place the radiation inside the body close to the brain tumor (brachytherapy) (Mayo Clinic Staff). The third option is radiosurgery. Radiosurgery uses many beams of radiation, somewhat like the radiation therapy, that gives a more focused form of radiation to kill the tumor cells in a small area. Chemotherapy can also be used, and that uses drugs to kill the cells. Targeted drug therapy focuses on certain abnormalities within the cancer cells which is more specific than chemotherapy (Mayo Clinic Staff). The sixth option is rehabilitation therapy which can be physical, occupational, speech, or tutoring. Otherwise, there is alternative medicine such as acupuncture, meditation, music therapy, and relaxation therapy (Mayo Clinic Staff). That’s just the basics, there is still so much to know about brain