What are the symptoms and treatment of benign brain tumors?

Benign brain tumors grow slowly, have a relatively intact capsule, do not infiltrate surrounding tissues, and are well differentiated; malignant brain tumors grow rapidly, have no capsule, have unclear boundaries, grow in an invasive manner, and are poorly differentiated. So what are the symptoms of benign brain tumors and how should they be treated?

Symptoms of Benign Brain Tumors

1. Headache is the earliest and most common symptom of brain tumor, occurring in 82% to 90% of patients, with varying degrees for each individual. It is intermittent at first, and is more common and heavier in the morning when awake and at night. It usually presents as a throbbing dull pain or distending pain in the forehead or temples, which may become persistent. Headaches may be aggravated by coughing, straining, sneezing, bending over, or lowering the head. Because children's skulls are not closed and the cranial sutures separate when intracranial pressure increases, they may not have headaches but only complain of dizziness. Headaches are often not effectively treated with general analgesics, but are effectively treated with dehydrating agents.

2. Vomiting is one of the main symptoms, occurring in about 2/3 of patients. It often occurs when there is a severe headache, often accompanied by nausea, and vomiting is often projectile. In severe cases, patients cannot eat and vomit after eating.

3. Papilledema is the most important objective sign of increased intracranial pressure. Patients with infratentorial and midline tumors present earlier, while patients with supratentorial benign tumors present later, or even not at all. Optic disc edema does not affect vision in the early stages, and visual field examination shows an enlargement of the physiological blind spot. When papilledema persists for weeks or months, the optic disc gradually becomes pale, vision begins to deteriorate, and the visual field shrinks concentrically, which is a manifestation of optic nerve atrophy. Once paroxysmal amaurosis occurs, vision will deteriorate rapidly, and may even lead to blindness. Even if surgery is performed to relieve the intracranial hypertension, vision often does not improve.

Treatment

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is a treatment method that uses various energies of radiation to irradiate tumors in order to inhibit and kill cancer cells. Radiotherapy can be used alone or in combination with surgery, chemotherapy, etc. as part of comprehensive treatment to improve the cure rate of cancer. By performing a period of radiotherapy before surgery to reduce the size of the tumor, patients who were originally unable to undergo surgery can have the opportunity to undergo surgery. For advanced cancer, palliative radiotherapy can be used to relieve compression and relieve pain.

CyberKnife

Cyber ​​knife, also known as "stereotactic cyber surgery platform", also known as "network knife" or "computer knife", is the world's latest whole-body stereotactic radiosurgery treatment equipment and currently the most advanced gravity radiotherapy in the world. Cyber ​​knife can treat tumors in various parts of the body with only 1 to 5 irradiations. It has the characteristics of high precision, large dose, and strong lethality to kill tumor tissue. It is the only whole-body radiosurgery form that combines the advantages of "no wounds, no pain, no bleeding, no anesthesia, and short recovery period". Patients can go home after surgery without hospitalization. In modern times, the treatment technology in Shanghai is relatively mature.