Brain Cancer
"With awareness, there is hope."
What is Brain Cancer?
Brain Cancer is when cells grow rapidly in the brain forming a brain tumor and the severity of the tumor depends on when the tumor is detected
Cancer Symptoms
- More frequent or severe headaches
- Nausea or vomiting
- Vision problems
- Loss of movement or feeling in arms or legs
- Difficulty with balance
- Difficulty with speech
- Confusion
- Personality changes
- Seizures
- Hearing Issues
How It Impacts The People It Affects
Prevalence
- One of the top twenty most prevalent cancers in America
- 125,968 less cases in 2015 than 2012
- About 33% of patients will survive
- Estimated 22,850 new cases in 2015
- About 7,540 people will survive
How is this Diagnosed
- Vision tests
- Hearing tests
- Balance
- Coordination
- Strength
- Reflexes
- MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)
- CT (Computerized Tomography) Scan
- PET (Positron Emission Tomography)
- Test of abnormal tissue sample
Casues of Brain Cancer
- Pituitary Gland
- Pineal Gland
- Brain covering membranes
Secondary Tumors:
- Start somewhere else
- Mostly happens to people genetically linked to cancer
- More common than primary tumors
Treatments for Brain Cancer
- tolerance of certain medications
- overall health
- likelihood of the tumor recurring.
- AEDs (Anti-seizures/ Anti-epileptic Drugs)
- Steroids and Surgery
- Radiation therapy, which is when exposion to radiation kills tumor cells,
- Chemotherapy, which is the use of medication to kill rapid cell growth and Tumor
- Treating Fields, which is a wearable device that produces electric waves to disrupt cell division
Cellular and Molecular Level
Cellular
Cancer cells have a shorter lifetime than normal cells, which means cancerous cells divide quicker than normal cells. As cancer cells divide, the grow of cells is exponential which means as the cells divide a small tumor has already been made, when the cell growth finally plateaus this means that the large tumor has formed. Cell growth usually plateaus because of a limited supply of nutrients.
Molecular
Abnormalities in genetics are responsible for the creation of cancer cells. The abnormalities change the way protein products regulate cell growth, division and DNA repair. Two categories of mutated genes are oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes