Brain Tumors Flashcards
(30 cards)
What are some positive prognostic factors for primary brain tumors?
- Young age
- High performance status
- Lower pathological grade
- Long symptom duration
- Absence of mental changes at time of diagnosis
- Cerebellar location
- Small tumor size
- Complete surgical resection
What are some negative prognostic factors for primary brain tumors?
- Tumor has spread
- Not all of the tumor is able to be removed
- Older age
- Lower functional level
- Higher tumor grade
What are some common risk factors for brain tumors?
- Age
- Gender
- Home/work exposure
- Family history
- Viruses, infections, allergens (eg. Epstein barre)
What are some prognostic factors associated with brain tumors?
- Age
- Functional level
- Type of tumor
- Grade of tumor
- Genetic mutations or changes in tumor cells
- Location and size of tumor
- How much tumor can be removed by surgery
- Has the tumor spread through the CSF to other parts of brain or spinal cord or even beyond the CNS?
What are some key signs and symptoms of CNS tumors?
- New onset or change in pattern of headaches
- Headaches that are becoming more frequent or more severe
- Unexplained N/V
- Vision problems (blurred, double, loss of peripheral vision)
- Gradual loss of sensation or movement in arm or leg
- Balance difficulties
- Speech difficulties
- Confusion on everyday matters
- Personality or behavior changes
- Seizures in person with no seizure history
- Hearing problems
How many grades of tumors are there?
4
Grade 1 Tumor
benign, slow growing, cells look almost normal under microscope, usually associated with long term survival, rare in adults
Grade 2 Tumor
Relatively slow growing, sometimes spreads to nearby normal tissue and comes back
Grade 3 Tumor
Malignant (cancerous), acitively reproduces abnormal cells, tumor spreads into nearby normal parts of the brain, cells look abnormal under the microscope, tends to come back, often as higher grade tumor
Grade 4 Tumor
most malignant, grows fast, easily spreads into nearby normal parts of brain, actively reproduces abnormal cells, cells look very abnormal under microscope, tumor forms new blood vessels to maintain rapid growth, tumors have areas of dead cells in their center (necrosis)
Benign tumor
The least aggressive type of brain tumor, usually originate from cells within or surrounding the brain, do not contain cancer cells, grow slowly, and typically have clear borders that do not spread into other tissue
Malignant tumor
brain tumors contain cancer cells and often do not have clear borders. They are considered to be life threatening because they grow rapidly and invade surrounding brain tissue.
Primary tumor
Tumors that start in cells of the brain, may spread to other parts of the brain or to the spine, but rarely to other organs.
Metastatic tumor
or secondary brain tumors begin in another part of the body and then spread to the brain. These tumors are more common than primary brain tumors and are named by the location in which they begin. (also called secondary tumor)
What are the most common types of cancer that metastasize to the brain?
- Lung
- Breast
- Skin (melanoma)
- Colon
- Kidney
- Thyroid gland
What types of tumors are gliomas?
- Primary tumors
- General term for tumors that start in glial cells, not a specific type of brain tumor
- 3 out of 10 tumors are gliomas
- These are the fastest growing type of tumors
Examples: Astrocytomas, Oligodendrogliomas, Ependymomas
What are characteristics of an astrocytoma?
- Start in glial cells called astrocytes
- 2 out of 10 brain tumors are astrocytomas
- Can spread widely throughout the brain tissue and blend into the tissue making it difficult to resect
- Some can spread along CSF pathways
- Rare to go outside of brain or spinal cord
Grades of astrocytomas
Low-grade astrocytomas (Grade I and Grade II)
- Grow slowly
- Non-infiltrating grade I astrocytoma
- Good prognosis
- More common in children
Grade II astrocytomas
- Slow growing
- Can grow into other areas making removal harder
- Can be more aggressive and faster growing over time
High-grade astrocytomas (Grade III and Grade IV)
- Anaplastic (grade III) astrocytomas
- Glioblastomas (grade IV)
- Make up more than half of all gliomas in adults
- Most common
- Fastest growing
What is a glioblastoma?
Grade 4 astrocytoma
What are characteristics of an oligodendroglioma?
- Starts in glial cells called oligodendrocytes
- Grow slowly
- Infiltrate other tissue often and can’t be fully removed by surgery
- Can sometimes spread along CSF pathway
- Rarely outside of brain and spinal cord
- Can become more aggressive over time
- Grade III tumors are called anaplastic oligodendrogliomas which is a very aggressive type
- Only 1-2% of brain tumors are made up of these
What are characteristics of an oligodendroglioma?
- Starts in glial cells called oligodendrocytes
- Grow slowly
- Infiltrate other tissue often and can’t be fully removed by surgery
- Can sometimes spread along CSF pathway
- Rarely outside of brain and spinal cord
- Can become more aggressive over time
- Grade III tumors are called anaplastic oligodendrogliomas which is a very aggressive type
- Only 1-2% of brain tumors are made up of these
What are characteristics of a meningiomas?
What are the signs/symptoms?
- Arises from the meninges
- Most common type of tumor that forms in the head
- Most grow very slowly over years and are asymptomatic
- More common in women and often discovered in older ages
- Signs and symptoms:
- Double vision or blurred vision
- Hearing loss or tinnitus
- Memory loss
- Loss of smell
- Seizures
- Weakness in arms or legs
- Language difficulty
What is the most common and fastest growing tumor out of all the ones reviewed?
- Most common = meningiomas
- Fastest growing = gliomas
glioblastomas are the most common and fastest growing oligodendrogliomas
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What are the major goals of treatment for brain tumors?
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