How Can You Tell You Have a Brain Tumor?

Psychologist-and-patient-general

Once you are diagnosed with a brain tumor, you must wonder how you would have known.  More importantly, psychological factors can influence how much emphasis we attribute to our symptoms.  Most people experience some of the symptoms listed below.  Symptoms depend on tumor location and degree of brain irritation. From our…

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New Hope for Patients with Brain Cancer – Dye that guides surgeons and facilitates the view of cancer cells during brain surgery

5-ALA in a brain tumor used in the UK

The FDA recently approved a dye that can accumulate in cancer cells and make them glow during brain surgery.  This is a major advance especially for aggressive brain cancers called gliomas.  Glioblastoma is the most aggressive and lethal glioma. Aggressive surgical removal of the tumor followed by chemotherapy and radiation…

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Blood/Spinal Fluid (Liquid) Biopsies: An innovative non-invasive way to assess brain tumor response to therapy during treatment

Doctors have been researching non-invasive options to assess how brain tumors, especially in children, respond to therapy.  In particular, doctors can closely follow how treatment impacts on key genetic changes that drive tumor growth. The traditional approach was to obtain tissue biopsies to assess tumor response.  However, this approach is…

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An Innovative and Promising Treatment for Cancer?

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to scientists who pioneered an innovative approach to cancer treatment that enhances the ability of the immune system to attack and destroy cancer cells – Immunotherapy.  Two scientists, James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo, were awarded “for their discovery of…

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