Technological breakthrough of Russian scientists in the treatment of brain tumors

The brain is the main organ of the central nervous system. It consists of more than 35 billion cells. There are 5 parts of the brain that interact with each other using neural connections:

• Oblong. Responsible for protective reflexes (sneezing, coughing, vomiting), food (sucking, salivation, swallowing) and cardiovascular (regulation of the heart and blood vessels, as well as breathing and hearing).
• Posterior section. His “conscience” includes facial expressions, chewing reflexes, balance and muscle function.
• The middle one is responsible for muscle tone and skin pigmentation.
• Intermediate regulates metabolism, cardiovascular activity and sleep.
• The final (large) is the highest center of mental activity. Responsible for smell, hearing, vision, movement.

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Brain Facts

• The average brain weight is 1300-1400 grams. That is, having a mass of no more than 2% of the entire body, it consumes a quarter of all energy.
• The brain is 60% fat.
• Has no pain receptors. Therefore, when neurosurgeons perform operations, they inject painkillers only into the scalp
• From large doses of alcohol, the brain loses the ability to create memories. Therefore, when a person has a large dose of alcohol, he does not remember the events that occur.
• The brain often doesn’t care whether you actually do something or imagine it in pictures. If you imagine a dangerous and extreme situation in your mind, your heart rate will immediately increase. This feature of our psyche has long been known to athletes. Many of them do visualization before competitions: they imagine all sorts of situations that could happen to them during tournaments. Research has proven that this method improves the performance of athletes because it prepares their muscles and body.
• There is a phenomenon known as phantom pain. For example, when a person's leg is amputated, he still experiences pain in it. This happens because there are nerve endings in the brain that are responsible for sensing pain in that leg.

Treatment

What to do in case of metastases in the brain is decided by a council of doctors based on the diagnosis and medical history of the patient. Treatment of metastases in the head is very difficult, which is due to the inaccessibility of the location of secondary lesions in the brain, the presence of multiple tumors in other organs, the patient’s condition in the later stages, age and a number of other factors. Today, in the presence of secondary tumors in the head, stereotactic radiosurgical techniques are used, which stop or slow down the growth of pathological tissue. The best result is achieved when tumors are removed surgically, but at these stages treatment is always difficult. The method of treatment will depend on the location of the tumor, the intensity of damage to other organs and the general condition of the patient.

Main types of treatment

1. Surgical treatment is possible only in cases where there is access to tumors in the brain. As a rule, in the terminal stages many other organs are already affected, so surgical treatment is carried out mainly for palliative purposes, to eliminate negative signs and alleviate the patient’s condition. In some cases, it is possible to remove a few tumors or metastases are removed en bloc (when they are located nearby). If there are many lesions in the brain, then surgical treatment is not advisable.
2. Treatment with radiotherapy is more preferable in this case. For deep, hard-to-reach locations of secondary tumors in the brain, this type of treatment is the main one. For a few tumors, stereotactic proton therapy (irradiation of an organ from several sides) will be an effective method.
3. Chemotherapy and drug treatment for brain metastases are not effective. Drugs are prescribed to relieve negative symptoms and reduce side effects. Thus, drug therapy is palliative.

Symptoms of brain diseases

The most common brain diseases include atherosclerosis, stroke, tumor, vascular aneurysm, and Alzheimer's disease. According to statistics, up to 85% of people are predisposed to developing diseases related to the blood supply to the brain. Such data are a consequence of the unhealthy lifestyle of modern man. The danger of brain diseases lies in their asymptomatic nature. That is, for a long time they do not make themselves felt.

Common symptoms of brain diseases include:

• Frequent headaches that do not go away even after taking medications.
• Memory impairment.
• Constant fatigue.
• Fainting.
• Cramps.
• Fever. Body temperature can reach up to 40 degrees.
• Weight loss to the point of exhaustion.

Specific symptoms of atherosclerosis:

• Noise in ears. It occurs when a cholesterol plaque has blocked 60% of the blood flow in an artery.
• Decreased erection. If a man under 50 years of age has decreased erection, then such a patient's risk of dying from a myocardial infarction is many times higher than that of the same person with normal erectile function.
• Coldness in the extremities. The vessels become stiffer and blood flows through them worse.

Specific symptoms of stroke:

• Numbness of the face and limbs.
• Double vision.
• Difficulty moving.

Every third death in Russia is associated with this pathology.

Stroke happens:

• Ischemic. Associated with blockage of arteries, cessation of blood flow to the brain and necrosis of its tissue. The cause of the appearance is blockage of blood vessels leading to the brain due to atherosclerotic plaque. The second reason is the occurrence of a blood clot in the heart when it is not working properly (for example, during an arrhythmia). As a result, the blood clot “runs” into the brain vessels, causing thrombosis.
• Neurological. Associated with hemorrhage and hematoma formation inside the skull. It occurs due to high blood pressure when, at its peak, a small vessel inside the brain ruptures and a hematoma appears.

There are signs of a stroke that, if recognized in time, can save a life. To make it easier to memorize, they can be combined into the word “IMPACT”:

• Smile. If a person cannot smile and one of the corners of his mouth is drooping.
• Movement. A person cannot move both arms or legs at once.
• Articulation. A person cannot say anything clearly, not even his name.
• Solution. To save a person, you should take him to the hospital and carry out the necessary examinations within 1-2 hours.

Specific symptoms of Alzheimer's disease:

• Avoiding contact with people.
• Lost in space.
• Decreased emotionality and interest in life.
• Hallucinations.

Alzheimer's disease is a form of dementia that occurs in older people. It is most often found in patients who have crossed the threshold of 65 years. At the moment it is incurable.

Specific symptoms of a brain tumor:

• The headache does not go away within two weeks to a month.
• Headache is accompanied by vomiting, hearing loss and coordination.
• Motor perseverations (inability to stop performing an action).
• Inattentiveness and forgetfulness progresses.

Brain tumors are divided into benign, malignant and metastases. In the case of benign, the disease develops gradually, slowly and gently over several years.

Types of brain tumors:

1. Intracerebral. The most common and aggressive form is glioblastoma. It is almost impossible to defeat her. The tumor grows through healthy tissue and cannot be localized.
2. Extracerebral. They grow on the base or surface of the skull.
3. Metastases are secondary brain tumors. The main cancer cells penetrate the bloodstream into the brain and cause the growth of metastases.

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Diagnostics

The initial examination involves an oral interview and a physical examination. The doctor assesses the patient’s general condition, determines the nature of clinical manifestations, their duration and intensity, evaluates coordination, reflexes, psycho-emotional state, and so on. Next, the patient will have to undergo a thorough diagnosis, which may include the following types of studies:

• general blood and urine tests;
• blood chemistry;
• Ultrasound (echoencephalography);
• angiography - X-ray contrast study of the condition of the blood vessels of the head;
• examination of eye function and level of vision;
• computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging – obtaining high-precision layer-by-layer images, which allows you to identify all the nuances of the disease and determine the method of tumor removal;
• magnetic resonance spectroscopy – study of the functioning of pathogenic tissues at the biochemical level;
• positron emission tomography (PET) of the head shows the characteristics of metabolic processes in the painful focus, which makes it possible to talk about the rate of development of the disease;
• biopsy - tissue collection for histological examination; in this case, the material is obtained after tumor removal.

Also of great diagnostic importance is the study of cerebral fluid, in which pathological cells are located. The stereotactic biopsy method is the most informative in terms of determining the type of carcinogenesis and its characteristics.

Risk factors

Brain diseases can be caused by various reasons related to lifestyle, as well as existing health problems.

• Smoking. Nicotine and other substances contained in tobacco smoke provoke atherosclerosis and vascular aneurysm at a high rate.
• Low physical activity. Physical education improves the plasticity of the brain - its ability to create new connections and transform itself. Accordingly, if a person does not perform even minimal exercise, his brain does not create new neural connections and quickly destroys old ones.
• Male gender. According to research, men are more likely to suffer from brain diseases because they lead an unhealthy lifestyle.
• High blood pressure. As a result of surges in blood pressure, protrusion of the vessel wall in a weak spot may occur.
• Poor nutrition and obesity. If a woman’s waist exceeds 88 cm, and a man’s waist exceeds 102, it is necessary to adjust your diet. With obesity, insulin insensitivity develops (cells lose sensitivity to the hormone, and the pancreas produces more of it than normal).
• Alcohol. The alcohol contained in alcoholic drinks is absorbed into the blood, enters the brain and destroys its cortex.
• High cholesterol. It affects blood vessels, forming cholesterol plaques on their walls, interfering with normal blood flow.
• Stress. Recent studies have shown that stress impairs brain function due to the production of cortisol (the stress hormone).
• Age. Many diseases begin to appear younger and appear at an earlier age than decades ago. For example, cholesterol plaques begin to form in the blood vessels of the brain by the age of 35, which can lead to atherosclerosis.
• Genetics. If your close relatives have developed brain diseases under 50 years of age, then you are at high risk.
• Infections and inflammations. They affect the brain matter, disrupting the functioning of the immune system and brain.

Bacterial infections

A huge number of pathogens related to bacterial infections can affect the brain. Diseases such as meningitis, encephalitis or brain abscess may well be caused by such “ordinary” pathogens as pneumococcus, staphylococcus, and enterobacteria. But this can only happen if:

• damage to the bones of the skull, with disruption of the integrity of the membranes of the brain;
• introduction of pathogens during neurosurgical operations;
• the presence of a purulent focus in the body and weakened immunity.

However, with other pathogens the situation is different.

Meningococcal infection is a traditional neuroinfection that affects the brain. The peak incidence is observed in the autumn-winter period, when the immune system is reduced due to frequent hypothermia and lack of vitamins. If the immune system is normal, then you will limit yourself to ordinary nasopharyngitis; otherwise, the likelihood of getting meningitis or meningoencephalitis increases.

Symptoms of meningococcal infection

• fever,
• increase in body temperature to 39-40° C.
• chills,
• headache
• weakness
• neck muscle tension
• nausea,
• vomit,

specific symptoms

• A red-violet rash protruding above the surface of the skin, the elements of which resemble a star in shape
• The disease begins very acutely (often you can specify a specific time (hour) when the person fell ill)
• Treatment must begin within 24 hours while the person is conscious, otherwise he may fall into a coma.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, among other things, can also affect the brain. Children, elderly people and people suffering from immunodeficiency are more often affected.

The symptoms of the onset of the disease are not clearly expressed, most often it is general weakness, malaise, lack of appetite, headache and irritability, body temperature is subfebrile (the temperature rises over a long period of time within 37.1 - 38°C.). Subsequently, “usual” meningeal symptoms appear.

Afterwards, neurological disorders appear - paresis and paralysis of the facial nerve, oculomotor muscles, dizziness. Mental disorders occur against the background of neurological disorders.

Neurosyphilis, now almost never occurs, but before the discovery of penicillin it formed the basis of the work of neurologists. Neurosyphilis comes in several types:

1. Asymptomatic, occurs without any special symptoms, the disease can only be detected by testing.
2. Meningitis - often appears during the first year of the disease, manifested by disturbances in the functioning of cranial nerves and increased intracranial pressure (ICP).
3. Cerebrovascular - occurs mainly in the 2-5th year of the disease and can lead to a stroke or transform into tabes dorsalis or progressive paralysis.
4. Progressive paralysis is a disease that was also called “crazy paralysis.” Occurs 15-20 years after infection and first manifests itself with mental symptoms, then muscle paralysis occurs and progresses, which ultimately leads to death.
5. Congenital, which, strictly speaking, affects the entire body and is characterized by multiple defects in the development of the child.
6. Gumma of the brain - manifests itself as a space-occupying formation. Symptoms include increased ICP and focal symptoms, depending on the location of the gumma.

An unpleasant feature of the disease is its difficult diagnosis.

Symptoms of cerebrovascular accident

Cerebral circulation disorders, the symptoms of which can be easily confused with manifestations of other diseases, are a serious reason to consult a doctor. Cerebrovascular insufficiency manifests itself:

• dizziness;
• a feeling of instability when walking and changing body position;
• feeling of heaviness in the head;
• irritability;
• increased fatigue;
• change in character (tearfulness, touchiness, etc.);
• insomnia;
• lethargy and inability to concentrate;
• decreased concentration;
• headache;
• noise in the head;
• weather sensitivity;
• memory impairment;
• decreased intelligence;
• surges in blood pressure, etc.

Types of cerebrovascular disorders

It is customary to distinguish the following categories of cerebrovascular disorders:

• strokes - acute form, lasting no more than 24 hours;
• chronic form caused by atherosclerosis, discircular encephalopathy, persistent arterial hypertension.

The disease has three stages:

• the first - with vague symptoms;
• the second - in which the symptoms intensify;
• the third - in which irreversible consequences occur.

Diagnosis of cerebrovascular accident, the symptoms of which are very diverse, requires a highly qualified doctor.