Tag Archives: brain tumors

November 1, 2012   Medical   No comments

Causes of Hearing Loss

So, your ears aren’t working as well as they used to. There are many causes of hearing loss, some temporary and easily fixed, some not. Your hearing, in fact, can be affected by everything from a head cold to metastatic brain tumors. Before you book that appointment with the gamma knife brain cancer specialist, let’s look at some other, more common causes of hearing loss.

  • Head cold and sinus pressure – All jokes aside, there are several nearly empty spaces in your head (and no, they have nothing whatsoever to do with your hair color or your algebra grade) known as your sinus cavities. When you have a cold, or when your sinuses are inflamed, these can swell, become blocked with thick mucus and become painful. Now, how can something in the front of your head cause you hearing trouble? Well, the sinuses drain into the pharynx, as do the Eustachian tubes of the ears. If the tubes can’t drain because of too much other sinus drainage, or if the tubes become blocked by excess sinus drainage, you can experience some difficulty hearing.
  • Ear infections – Your middle ear can become infected if your sinuses or other respiratory passages are also infected, through the connection with the upper respiratory tract. This is caused when the Eustachian tube becomes blocked or swollen. The fluids and mucus naturally occurring in the middle ear can’t drain and they lay in there like so much stagnant water. This back up can lead to an inner ear infection. Since the inner ear can’t function properly due to the infection, your hearing can suffer temporarily until the infection clears.
  • Excessive ear wax – The ear canal is lined with little tiny hairs and glands that produce a waxy substance. This ear “wax” is actually useful, as it traps dust, dirt, bacteria and other small objects and germs from entering your sensitive inner ear. It also protects the delicate skin of the inner ear from trapped water. However, some people produce too much wax. For others, the wax doesn’t drain out of the ear properly, either naturally through a minor anatomical defect, or through thickening of the wax caused by infection or irritation. Then, the wax builds up inside the ear and can block the ear canal, either partially or completely. In fact, wax blockage is the number one cause of partial hearing loss, and is the easiest to remedy. There are commercial drops and homemade remedies, such as baby oil or mineral oil, that can be used to try and alleviate the problem. Be careful not to clean your ears too often, however, as the wax is necessary to ear health.
  • Brain tumors – There is a certain type of brain tumor–an acoustic neuroma–that attaches itself to the auditory nerve. While it isn’t malignant, it can be painful and can cause partial to complete hearing loss. There are treatments available–surgery, radiation–to stop the growth of or completely remove the tumor.
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September 26, 2012   Science   No comments

Innovative Cancer Treatments

Cancer. The very word strikes fear into the hearts of even the strongest men. It has been with us from the beginning of time, and will likely remain with us until the very end of it, too. Through the years, cancer treatments have evolved from witch doctor potions and dangerous surgeries to high-tech drugs and techniques. Medical researchers keep plugging away at new and different ideas, coming up with better and more effective treatments. Some cancers have almost been eliminated through their efforts, and yet the work goes on. Perhaps it is the fear that drives them. Let’s look at a few innovative, fairly new weapons in the fight against cancers of all kinds.

  • The gamma knife - This tool of radiosurgery has been around for about 25 years now. Essentially, it is a system to deliver pinpoint radiation to brain tumors. Not only does it help with what were once inoperable tumors deep within the brain, but since it is completely non-invasive, it has grown in popularity in treating other conditions. It is a common form of acoustic neuroma surgery, replacing scalpels and sutures and possible complications involving the auditory nerves by destroying the neuroma’s blood supply. No dangerous open surgery, no scars, no long recovery period.
  • The nano-drug – Researchers are currently busy developing cancer treatments using nanotechnology. Treatments have been created that use the technology to hone in on cancer cells, ignoring healthy cells and tissues. Once they arrive, they release anti-tumor drugs directly into the tumor’s cells, killing them. It is then degraded into harmless carbon dioxide and water. The treatment attacks only the cancer cells, from the inside. And with no harmful side effects or even immune system involvement. No allergic reactions, no suppressed immune system, no danger to healthy tissues.
  • Vaccines – You can get a shot to prevent the mumps. You can get a shot to prevent the measles. And now you can get a shot to prevent certain types of cancers. Researchers have developed vaccines designed to fight cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and liver cancer. Young women can receive the vaccine in their teens and not have to worry about the virus that causes 70% of cervical cancer cases. The hepatitis B vaccine can actually prevent the liver cancer this nasty virus can cause. And thanks to new developments, men with metastatic prostate cancer can be treated with a vaccine. The vaccines stimulate the body’s own natural defenses to fight off the cancerous cells. Cancer warfare from the inside–kind of like infiltrating the enemy’s camp!
  • Molecular Off Switch – All cancers are ultimately caused by uncontrolled cell growth. The cells mutate, become a foreign entity to the body that created them, and then they keep dividing. They then can move through the body and infect other parts of it, even as they are treated and killed at the original site. All of this growth–division, multiplication, migration–is controlled by a very particular protein within the cell. Up until recently, scientists only knew how to turn this protein on, causing the cells to grow. Now, however, they think they know how to turn it off. So, while medicine doesn’t have a way to prevent cancer from starting, it is hard at work developing a way to stop it by turning it off.
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December 1, 2011   Medical, Science   No comments

Treatment Options for Metastatic Brain Tumors

The diagnosis of metastatic brain cancer (or any other types of brain tumors, for that matter) might send you running for your bucket list and a good hat store. Neither scenario necessarily needs to be the case in such a diagnosis anymore. There are treatments now for brain tumors that are non-invasive. The term “inoperable brain tumor” is becoming almost a thing of the past with all the innovative and varied treatment options available for brain tumors now.

Take the gamma knife, for example. The gamma knife is actually a precision radiosurgical device that delivers high doses of gamma radiation with pin-point accuracy directly to the tumor. Gamma knife procedures are noninvasive and relatively non-interfering with the patient’s lifestyle. Treatment takes a matter of hours, hospital stays are overnight (if at all) and recovery time is virtually non-existent as the patient is free to resume all normal daily functions very soon after treatment. Gamma knife radiosurgery does have its disadvantages. Since the tumor is not removed, but merely inactivated and stopped from growing, symptoms such as headaches or dizziness being caused by the tumor won’t subside for months, if ever. Since the gamma knife treatment does shut down the tumor, many do eventually shrink and “die” but these effects can again take months to be noticeable.

Another treatment option for brain tumors making headlines is the endoscopic endonasal approach. The surgery is typically used on brain tumors located at the base of the brain. The microscopic surgical tools–laser scapel, suction tubes, etc.–are fed through the nose into the sinus cavities and into the brain. Once in the brain, the tiny endoscopic device’s camera can locate the brain tumor and once again treatment can be delivered with pinpoint accuracy and little invasiveness. The tumor is removed little by little using the suction tubes, until it has been safely and completely (as much as possible) removed. While this procedure does require a longer hospital stay and recovery period, the patient benefits from the immediate effects of the brain tumor’s removal.

Of course, the type of treatment your oncologist might recommend will depend on the location, size, and type of brain tumor you have, as well as his expertise with the various techniques and technologies available to him.

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November 1, 2011   Medical, Science   No comments

Alternative Treatments for Brain Tumors

Consider all the parts and organs that go into creating a single human being. That’s a lot of systems, and sometimes glitches occur–brain tumors, heart disease, the common cold. The amount starts to add up and you realize just how fragile we are.

But then you begin to realize just how resilient the human body is and all of its amazing capabilities. A cold seems to go away after some chicken noodle soup and a good night’s rest. Of course, some maladies are not cured so simply. A brain tumor, for example, usually requires metastatic brain cancer treatment to prevent the cancer’s spread.

Radiotherapy

Gamma knife radiotherapy has recently become an effective alternative means of treating brain tumors as well as eliminating any lesions and functional disorders in the brain. Despite what you might initially think, the procedure does not actually require a physical knife of any kind.

Those familiar with radiotherapy probably understand that the process makes use of radiation to control cancer cells. The treatment is relatively non-invasive, which means it doesn’t require any scalpels or needles. The procedure uses highly concentrated doses of gamma radiation, which, when focused on the target area, can neutralize the tumor or lesion.

The surgery involves a head frame, which ensures that there is no stray movement that might throw off the gamma rays. The head frame requires some screws for proper placement, but local anesthesia ensures no pain.

Once the head frame is properly fitted, physicians proceed to imaging the patient’s head via MRI or CT scan. This gives the physician an accurate idea of the size, shape, and location of the tumor. The physician can then create a proper plan of action before finally applying the gamma knife treatment.

Traditional Treatments

We must not forget that people with brain tumors have several treatment options, and the method of treatment depends upon the size and stage of the tumor.

Traditional surgery remains the most common treatment for brain tumors. During this procedure, a surgeon makes an incision in the patient’s shaved scalp and uses a special surgical saw to remove a piece of bone from the skull. After removing part or all of the tumor, the surgeon replaces the piece of bone or uses a piece of metal or fabric.

Chemotherapy is also a common method of treatment. The drugs used in chemotherapy can be taken orally or injected. The drugs enter the bloodstream and travel throughout the body, killing off cancer cells.

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