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    • Apr 2, 2023
    • 3 min read

Brain Tumor: Story of a Parasite

Written by Bedirhan Atabay

Many diseases have always existed in our brain, and fighting against those diseases have always been an issue for humanity. However, one of them has always been the most dangerous among them all by a longshot: Brain Tumors. Since its first discovery in 1884, many people have tried to find a solution to this issue. Many people died because of brain tumors, and the death toll is increasing day by day. Today, I am going to explain brain tumors and how they damage us.


Firstly, let's talk about the brain tumor itself and its structure. We separate brain tumors into 4 different groups: metastatic, meningioma, glioblastoma, and astrocytoma. A metastatic tumor is a type of tumor that lets cancer cells travel all across the body and form new tumors (2). Meningioma tumor is a tumor that forms in layers of the brain (3). Glioblastoma tumor happens when the cells in your brain grow tremendously to the point it starts to damage the way your brain functions (4), and astrocytoma tumor happens in nerve-cell supporting cells of astrocytes (5).



We already mentioned the severe damage of brain tumors to our brains. However, to open this up a bit more, the main damages of brain tumors are: putting pressure on our brain, locking the blood transportation in our brain, seizures, nausea, vomiting, and personality changes (8,9). Those damages can eventually lead to the patient’s death, depending on the time cancer happened and the type of cancer. Cancer can be cured if the tumor is detected early, but there still will be a high possibility of the returning of the tumor and sometimes the tumor might not be removable, eventually causing constant damage (7).


Although we already mentioned that it is not very common to see a cured cancer, since the survival rate in 5 years is 36% and 30% in 10 years, this does not change the fact that there are still many methods to cure cancer and remove the brain tumor (6). The method to remove brain tumors is called craniotomy. In Craniotomy, the surgeon opens up a hole in the skull and then reaches the tumor itself. Finally, the surgeon removes the entire tumor. If the tumor is not removable, however, then the surgeon partially removes the tumor, reducing its size as much as possible.



In the past, there have been many efforts to find more methods to cure brain tumors. There are many revolutionary discoveries out there, such as Temozolomide, which is the usage of a drug to cure tumors. This method was discovered by Professor Malcolm Stevens, and is for the tumor type of glioblastoma and is increasing the survival rate of the patient. The method was scientifically proven 27 years after its discovery (10). Another method that is directly related to this one and is also pretty important was discovered in 2023, this year (11). This method enabled us to use drugs more effectively in cancer treatment. You can see that more recent methods were more directed on drug usage to treat cancer and eliminate brain tumors.


The brain tumor is widely accepted as a problem with a priority to be solved today. Many methods are searched to find a solution to this. As aforementioned, our main research is directed to the usage of drugs in tumor treatments, so we might be able to find the solution there. In the end, humanity’s fight against brain tumors will go on until we manage to find a solution, and we are hoping to see more scientific achievements directed toward solving this problem in the next decades.


References:

  1. NCI Dictionary of Cancer terms. National Cancer Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms/def/metastasis.

  2. DB;, K. (n.d.). The first primary brain-tumor operation. Journal of neurosurgery. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6387062/.

  3. Meningioma: What it is, causes, symptoms & treatment. Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17858-meningioma.

  4. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2023, January 10). Glioma. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/glioblastoma/cdc-20350148.

  5. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2023, January 10). Glioma. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/astrocytoma/cdc-20350132.

  6. Brain Tumor - statistics. Cancer.Net. (2023, March 9). Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.cancer.net/cancer-types/brain-tumor/statistics.

  7. NHS. (n.d.). NHS choices. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/malignant-brain-tumour/.

  8. Brain tumors and brain cancer. Brain Tumors and Brain Cancer | Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/brain-tumor.

  9. NHS. (n.d.). NHS choices. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/brain-tumours/.

  10. Mount Sinai Health System. (2023, March 2). Scientists develop novel approach to enhance drug delivery for brain tumors in children. Mount Sinai Health System. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://www.mountsinai.org/about/newsroom/2023/scientists-develop-novel-approach-to-enhance-drug-delivery-for-brain-tumors-in-children.

  11. Gunn, T. (2023, February 13). Better together: Improving brain tumour treatment. Cancer Research UK - Cancer News. Retrieved March 26, 2023, from https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2023/02/13/improving-brain-tumour-treatment-together/.


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