What are the side effects of treatment of brain tumors?

Because therapy can damage healthy cells and tissues, unwanted side effects are common.These side effects depend on many factors, including the location of the tumor and the nature and extent of treatment. Side effects can not be the same for each person, and they can even switch from one reading to the next. Before starting treatment, the care team will explain possible side effects and suggest ways to help the patient manage them.

Surgery

Patients often have headaches or feel insecure in the first days after surgery. But medication is usually control their pain. Patients should feel free to discuss pain relief with your doctor or nurse.

It is also common for patients feel tired or weak. The time it takes to recuperate after an operation varies for each patient.

Other, less common, can cause problems. Cerebrospinal fluid or blood can accumulate in the brain. This swelling is called edema. Health care team monitors the patient for signs of these problems. The patient may receive steroids to relieve swelling. A second surgery may be needed to drain fluid. The surgeon can place a long, thin tube (shunt) in a chamber of the brain.Wooden pipe under the skin to another part of the body, usually in the abdomen. Excess fluid drained from the brain to the abdomen. Sometimes the fluid drained into the heart instead.

Infection is another problem that can develop after surgery. If this happens, give care team patient antibiotics.

Brain surgery may damage healthy tissue. Brain damage can be a serious problem. The patient may have problems thinking, seeing or speaking. The patient may also be personality changes or seizures. Most of these problems may improve or disappear with time. But sometimes brain damage is permanent. The patient may need physical therapy, speech therapy or occupational therapy.

Radiotherapy

Some patients have nausea for several hours after treatment. Health Systems team can suggest ways to help patients to cope with this task. Radiation therapy may also cause patients to become very tired as treatment continues. Rest is important, but doctors usually advise patients to try to stay as active as possible.

In addition, radiation therapy often causes hair loss. Hair usually grows back within a couple of months. Radiation therapy may also affect the skin in the treated area. Scalp and ears may become red, dry and tender. Health Systems team can suggest ways to alleviate these problems.

Sometimes radiation therapy causes brain tissue to swell. Patients may experience headache or feel pressure. Health Systems team watches for signs of this problem. They can give medication to reduce discomfort.

Radiation sometimes kills healthy brain tissue. This effect is called radiation necrosis. Necrosis can cause headaches, seizures, or death of the patient.

In children, radiation may damage the pituitary gland and other areas of the brain. This can lead to learning problems or slow growth and development. It also increases radiation during childhood, the risk of secondary tumors later in life. Scientists examine whether chemotherapeutic agents can be used in place of radiotherapy in young children with brain tumors.

Side effects may worsen if chemotherapy and radiation given simultaneously. Your doctor can suggest ways to reduce these problems.

Chemotherapy

Side effects of chemotherapy depend mainly on the use of drugs. The most common side effects include fever and chills, nausea and vomiting, loss of appetite and weakness. Some side effects can be alleviated with medication.

Patients who receive an implant (plate), which contains a substance which is monitored by the care team for signs of infection after surgery. An infection can be treated with antibiotics.

Supportive care

Any stage of the disease makes people with brain tumors supportive therapy to prevent or minimize problems and improve their well-being and quality of life during treatment. Patients can receive treatment to control pain and other symptoms of a brain tumor, to relieve the side effects of treatment, and to facilitate emotional problems.

These are common forms of supportive therapy for people with brain tumors:

Steroids - Most patients with brain tumors need steroids to relieve swelling of the brain.

Anticonvulsant drugs - Brain tumors can cause seizures. Patients can take an anticonvulsant medicine to prevent or control seizures.

Shunt - If fluid builds up in the brain, the surgeon may introduce a shunt to drain fluid.Information shunts on the "Surgery" in "Side Effects" section.
Many people with brain tumors receive supportive care along with treatments to slow the progression of the disease. Some decide not to have anti-tumor therapy and received only supportive therapy to control their symptoms.