Living with a rare brain or spine tumor can impact all aspects of your life. Physical or thinking and memory changes can be caused by the tumor, removal of the tumor, or treatment and can affect your quality of life. This can be challenging for you and your loved ones.
Actual survival 3–12 months (n=4)—median difference, 7 months.
Spinal tumors or growths of any kind can lead to pain, neurological problems and sometimes paralysis. A spinal tumor can be life-threatening and cause permanent disability. Treatment for a spinal tumor may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy or other medications.
Most symptomatic spinal cord tumors require surgical removal which can typically be performed with small incisions on the back or neck and little bony disruption. Depending on the type of tumor, further treatment may be indicated, including radiation or chemotherapy.
If treatment is needed, these tumors can usually be cured if they can be removed completely with surgery. Radiation therapy may be used along with, or instead of, surgery for tumors that can't be removed completely.
Primary tumors often progress slowly over weeks to years. Tumors in the spinal cord usually cause symptoms, sometimes over large portions of the body. Tumors outside the spinal cord may grow for a long time before causing nerve damage.
There are several types of masses that can be found in the spine: Some are malignant tumors (spinal cancer), which means they can spread to other areas of the body. Some are benign tumors, which means they are not aggressive and don't spread, but it doesn't mean they are harmless.
The cause of primary spinal tumors is unknown. Some primary spinal tumors occur with certain inherited gene mutations. Spinal tumors can be located: Inside the spinal cord (intramedullary)
Common symptoms of a spinal tumor include: Back pain that often radiates to other areas and worsens at night. Pain at the tumor site. Radiating numbness, tingling, or weakness.
Spinal tumors can form anywhere in and along your spinal column, which includes your vertebrae, spinal cord and the tissues surrounding your spinal cord. Most spinal tumors result from cancer metastasis — cancer that has spread from another area of your body to your spine.
MRI is usually the preferred test to diagnose tumors of the spinal cord and surrounding tissues. A contrast agent that helps highlight certain tissues and structures may be injected into a vein in your hand or forearm during the test.
Overall, the chance that a person will develop a malignant tumor of the brain or spinal cord in their lifetime is less than 1%.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
This is the most reliable method for diagnosing spine tumors. MRI can identify spinal cord compression, even if you don't have pain or other neurologic symptoms, and can often distinguish between malignant and benign lesions.
An MRI with contrast dye is the best way to see brain and spinal cord tumors. Using MRI, doctors can sometimes tell if a tumor is or isn't cancer. MRI can also be used to look for signs that cancer may have metastasized (spread) from where it started to another part of the body.
Imaging is used not only for local staging but also to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions. MRI is the preferred imaging modality for the evaluation of soft-tissue masses in clinical practice.
Lumps that could be cancer might be found by imaging tests or felt as lumps during a physical exam, but they still must be sampled and looked at under a microscope to find out what they really are. Not all lumps are cancer. In fact, most tumors are not cancer.
In most cases, doctors need to do a biopsy to diagnose cancer. A biopsy is a procedure in which the doctor removes a sample of tissue. A pathologist looks at the tissue under a microscope and runs other tests to see if the tissue is cancer.
Imaging tests, such as CT scans or MRIs, are helpful in detecting masses or irregular tissue, but they alone can't tell the difference between cancerous cells and cells that aren't cancerous. For most cancers, the only way to make a diagnosis is to perform a biopsy to collect cells for closer examination.
A biopsy is the most definitive way to determine if a tumor is benign or malignant. Additional tests like blood work or imaging (such as an MRI or x-ray) can be used to determine the characteristics of the tumor.
Causes of Benign Tumors
Environmental toxins, such as exposure to radiation. Genetics. Diet. Stress.
Ultrasound can usually help differentiate between benign and malignant tumours based on shape, location, and a number of other sonographic characteristics. If the ultrasound is inconclusive, your doctor may request follow-up ultrasound to monitor the tumor or a radiologist may recommend a biopsy.
Blood tests are not used to diagnose brain or spinal cord tumours. However, they are routinely done to provide a baseline before any planned treatment. They can provide helpful information about your general health, how other organs are functioning, other medical conditions and the possible risks of treatment.
Radiation therapy: Radiation therapy involves high doses of X-rays that destroy tumor cells or shrink the tumor. Shrinking the tumor can make it small enough to reduce or eliminate pain or other symptoms.