What are the advantages and disadvantages of chemotherapy of brain tumors?
The advantages and disadvantages of chemotherapy for brain tumors vary depending on the cancer and tumor type. Advantages may include prolonged life or cancer that moves into remission after treatment, especially in combination with other methods of treatment. The disadvantages include the fact that chemotherapy is not suitable for many types of brain tumor and is usually not a useful treatment of tumors in the early stages. Tumors that are not cancer are not usually treated with chemotherapy, especially if the tumor does not grow or causes any serious problems.
The use of chemotherapy for brain tumors is not as common as other potential treatment for several reasons. The brain has a protective mechanism used to maintain chemicals and other toxins. This is beneficial most of the time, but it also works for chemotherapeutic drugs to prevent the brain tumor from entering. Reluaders are generally never treated with chemotherapy, and those that are malignant are usually only treated with drugs as soon as they are progressed.
Sometimes chemotherapy can be beneficial for brain tumors, especially when used in combination with other treatments for very aggressive cancer. This is especially true for newer drugs that develop to focus specifically on certain types of cells. Some may be injected directly if necessary, while others are designed to block the growth of certain types of cells or tissues.
The main disadvantages of using chemotherapy for brain tumors is that it is not usually as effective as other alternative treatment. Many times the tumors must be removed by surgery. This is followed by radiation treatments that are designed to help reduce any existing tumor tissue and kill cancer cells. Sometimes chemotherapy is used after the completion of these treatments, but not all types of tumors respond to drugs. This means that there are no times for some tumors at all, evenIn the more advanced stages of the disease.
To determine whether the use of chemotherapy for brain tumors is a good choice, scanning must be carried out in the brain to determine the location of tumors and how large they are. Tests can be carried out to see if the cancer tumors are. If they are not and are small and do not affect the function of the brain, doctors can wait and see approach by carefully monitoring growth. If they are found to be cancer, surgery and radiation can be performed to remove or reduce tumors.