By: Fabiola Grosshan
Submitted: 2010-11-26 05:34:47 | Word Count: 383
The many treatments for brain tumors have undergone recent advantages. A doctor may recommend surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy depending on where the tumor exists. The general rule is that a doctor needs to catch the tumor early to greatly enhance the patient’s chances of survival.Controlling a brain tumor through drugs has harsh affects on other systems of the body. Cancer patients who survive the process may find that they deal with certain health effects after the doctor declares the cure. Radiation therapy overcomes some of the problems that exist through the harsh drug treatment. Doctors must control the dosage carefully to prevent side effects that occur from high doses of gamma radiation.
Depending on the disease and symptoms, a doctor may include pain management techniques as part of a patient’s overall treatment strategy. Several new techniques have been developed such as gamma knife treatment, and acoustic neuroma radiotherapy.
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The gamma knife involves neither a knife nor surgery. It does, as the name suggest, involve radiation. This technique involves a technician directing targeted doses at the spotted tumors in an effort to kill cancerous cells. The process works even on tumors that are normally considered inoperable. The technician who performs the procedure properly leaves the healthy tissue intact while killing the cancerous cells. As with any medical procedure, gamma knife surgery is not without its risk, but may work to remove tumors that are otherwise inoperable.Acoustic neuroma radiosurgery works in a similar manner. In fact, gamma knife radio surgery is a type of this procedure, but used in a smaller channel. Radio surgery of this type sends a high radiation beam, usually gamma rays, through a narrow channel of tungsten sheets. The radiation is carefully directed to avoid damaging healthy cells.Acoustic tumors do not threaten the health of the individual in the early stages. Treatment can keep more serious health programs from developing.As frightening as a diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor might be, it is a more common diagnosis as you might think. New techniques mean that even an inoperable tumor does not result in a person receiving a death sentence.
