Surgery is the mainstay of brain tumor treatment. It involves removing as much of the tumor as possible while trying to minimize damage to healthy tissue. Some tumors can be removed completely, while others can be removed only partially or not all. If a tumor is slow-growing, doctors may not operate immediately, but take a watch-and-wait approach.
The first approach employs natural proteins, called interferons, which are created by the immune system and are toxic to many different types of tumor cells. Lymphocytes, are cells that are able to fight cancer and can be grown in a laboratory and injected directly back into the tumor, to increase the body’s immune response. Lastly, a tumor vaccine can be created from brain tumor cells that are removed, modified and then transferred back to the patient. A tumor vaccine can create a strong immune system response against the tumor.
Chemotherapy, the use of medications to treat cancer, has played a major role in cancer treatment for half a century. Years of testing and research have proven chemotherapy to be effective and capable of prolonging life, reducing cancer-related symptoms such as pain, and in some instances curing cancer. Depending on a patient's situation, chemotherapy may be the only treatment given, or it may be used in combination with surgery, radiation therapy or other therapies.
