Faced with “minor problems” such as headache, vomiting, and poor memory, many people don’t care, thinking that it is just a disaster caused by high pressure and disordered work and rest, which has buried a big hidden danger in the body. At the same time, people are paying more and more attention to cancer, which has a high mortality rate and continues to be younger.
Data from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences shows that among the high incidence of tumor diseases in my country, brain tumors are ranked ninth, among which gliomas with high malignancy account for 81% of the malignant tumors of the central nervous system, and are the most malignant tumors. Common intracranial primary malignant tumors. With the advancement of medical methods, the cure rate and prognosis of gliomas are getting better and better, and early screening, early detection, and early treatment are still the keys to prolonging the survival time of patients and improving the quality of life of patients.
Photo courtesy of Vision China
Glioma is classified into four grades, middle-aged and elderly need attention
From the perspective of human body structure, the head and face are composed of skin, muscles, skull, meninges, and brain from the outside to the inside. Brain tumors are tumors and brain metastases that originate in intracranial tissue. Among the primary intracranial tumors, mostly benign meningiomas account for about 38%, and gliomas that grow in the brain and change from glial cells account for about 25%.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classification of tumors of the central nervous system classifies gliomas into grades I to IV. The higher the grade, the higher the degree of malignancy. Generally, grade I gliomas are benign, grade II are low-grade gliomas, and grades III and IV are high-grade gliomas. Among them, grade IV glioblastoma is the most common intracranial malignant tumor.
Glioma can occur at any age. From the data point of view, glioblastoma is more common in middle-aged and elderly people, two-thirds of the cases are concentrated in the age group of 45 to 70 years old, and it is very rare under the age of 30. The incidence rate in men is 1.5 times that of women, especially in middle-aged and elderly men. Special attention is required.
And young people should not take it lightly. Glioma may occur as early as the fetal period. The cause is due to the genetic mutation of brain glial cells during embryonic development, which develops before or after the child is born. Glioma. As one of the most malignant gliomas, medulloblastoma occurs mostly in childhood and adolescence, and it often occurs in the cerebellar vermis of the posterior cranial fossa.
Early screening is the most important thing to be careful of these symptoms
Considering the rapid onset and short course of high-grade malignant tumors such as glioblastoma, symptoms appear Getting medical attention as soon as possible is the most important. Epilepsy is one of the main symptoms of glioma, and because the tumor will oppress and stimulate the brain, resulting in edema and increased intracranial pressure, patients may also have symptoms such as headache, nausea and vomiting, and drinking and choking.
Brain gliomas are caused by glial cell lesions, which may grow in different parts of the brain, cerebellum, brain stem, etc., involving one lobe or multiple lobes, and even invade the ventricle, Intraspinal spread. If the tumor affects the functional areas of the brain, the patient will develop problems such as cognitive impairment, aphasia, and limb movement disorders.
Glioma in infants and young children generally grows in the midline of the human body, which will affect vision, causing problems such as strabismus and the inability to rotate the eyeballs freely. In addition, when parents observe the child’s state, if they find symptoms caused by increased intracranial pressure and cerebellar balance disorders such as vomiting and unsteady walking, they should take the child to the hospital for examination in time.
The general population can also join the magnetic resonance examination when they have regular physical examinations to detect lesions as soon as possible. It is recommended in the “Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Glioma (2018 Edition)” that the imaging screening of gliomas is mainly based on magnetic resonance (MRI) examinations, supplemented by CT examinations. Magnetic resonance imaging can not only detect gliomas, differentiate gliomas from some non-tumor lesions, but also help to grade gliomas and play an important role in subsequent treatment.
Advances in medical methods and improved treatment effects
When it comes to tumors, many people are very afraid, unable to face up to the occurrence of the disease, and thus affect the treatment. In fact, with the advancement of medical methods in recent years, the treatment effect of glioma has been continuously optimized, and the quality of life of patients who have been affected by disease and surgery has also been greatly improved. Today, patients with grade I glioma can survive for a long time after complete tumor resection, and patients with grade II glioma can survive for more than 10 years after surgery combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy, while 10% of glioblastoma Patients can survive for more than 5 years after treatment.
It is also worth mentioning wake-up surgery, that is, with the help of advanced medical equipment such as intraoperative magnetic resonance, intraoperative ultrasound, neuronavigation, fluorescence microscope, and constantly updated anesthetics and anesthesia techniques It can be awake during the operation, and the doctor can accurately divide the brain functional area by instructing the patient to speak and move, so as to ensure that the brain functional area is not affected as much as possible while removing the tumor, thereby greatly improving the patient’s quality of life after surgery and prolonging the patient’s life. survival time.
Gliomas with high malignancy have a high recurrence rate, and patients who have undergone total tumor resection need to maintain enhanced magnetic resonance imaging every 2-3 months within 1 year after surgery, and 2-3 months after surgery. Re-examinations should be conducted every six months during the year, and every 1 year after the operation for more than 3 years, and the interval of re-examination for patients with incomplete tumor resection should not exceed 3 months.
Source: Beijing Daily
Author: Jiang Tao, Chief Physician of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University
Process Editor: u017