Brain tumors

(tumor cerebri)

Brain tumors emerge inside the skull and, by increasing their size, crush or effectively destroy the surrounding brain tissue. Without therapy most tumors cause serious symptoms eventually (paralysis or palsy, aphasia, change of personality, epilepsy, etc.) and over time destroy the brain tissue, leading to mortality. Therefore – except in some cases – it is highly recommended to have therapy on brain tumors.  Moreover, the sooner a brain tumor is recognized – before it causes serious damage in the brain – the better chance exists for successful therapy.  The treatment starts usually with resectioning of the tumor by operation and continues with follow-up care such as irradiation or chemotherapy. Unfortunately, in the event that the tumor has grown deep into the brain and is too advanced to remove, an operation would cause severe complications.  Therefore, in this case only radiation therapy or “chemotherapy” can be applied. 

However, today, we know that most intracranial tumors do not belong to the class of fatal diseases that cause death in a short time. After brain surgery, the condition of most patients does not decline considerably. We can also say that the majority of patients who arrive on their own strength for the operation will also leave on their own strength.

Brain tumors can be categorized based on several aspects. Most frequently, they are classified based on the type of tissue (type of cellular, benign or malignant), or based on their position in the brain (i.e. which part of the brain is being affected) and on their size.

The following pictures show two different MRI pictures of brain tumors in the skull:

University books and studies have much information on precise tissue marking, possible therapies and survival statistical figures. However, reading specialist medical literature might lead laypeople to serious misunderstandings – largely due to the fact that such books usually describe average cases. The problems and therapies of each individual patient might differ from the average. Therefore, we highly recommend consulting with a specialist on neurosurgical questions. Individual and personal specialist opinion on personal questions can be found on the page below.