Brain & spine tumors

The brain and spinal cord are involved in everything you do – from reading this web page to the automatic functions of your heart and other organs. Because of this, the treatment of brain and spinal tumors presents unique challenges to avoid damaging parts of the brain or spine that control such vital functions.

At Advocate Brain & Spine Institute, you can count on our expert neuro-oncologists and multidisciplinary teams to deliver highly skilled surgery and other care to address these complex conditions. Both our adult and pediatric patients benefit from our leading-edge treatments including:

• Radiation therapies that precisely target brain and spine tumors.
• Targeted therapy that delivers medication to tumors while sparing nearby healthy tissues.
• Immunotherapy that improves your immune system’s ability to detect and destroy spine or brain cancer cells.

Through every phase of care, we focus on managing your brain tumor symptoms and addressing any concerns to promote your quality of life and overall wellbeing.

Brain tumor symptoms

Symptoms of brain and spine tumors vary widely based on the type, size and location of the tumor. For example, some tumors tend to involve seizures and others don’t. And tumors that are close to centers of the brain that control speech or vision are more likely to cause brain tumor symptoms related to speech or vision than those in other areas of the brain or spine.

Symptoms of brain tumors and spine tumors are also different from person to person. Some of the more common spine and brain tumor symptoms include:

• Headaches, changing in frequency or severity
• Nausea or vomiting, with no explained cause
• Vision, speech, hearing or balance problems
• Loss of sensation in limbs or extremities
• Confusion or personality changes
• Seizures, especially if you have no history of them
• Back pain, especially if it radiates from other body parts or is worse at night
• Loss of organ function, particularly bowel or bladder
• Difficulty walking, or falling
• Loss of sensitivity to pain heat or cold

Brain tumor risk factors

Some brain and spine tumors don’t have identified risk factors. Previous exposure to radiation is a risk factor for some brain and spine tumors, including radiation therapy received for a previous condition. Some risk factors for some brain and spine tumors are conditions or genetic disorders such as:

• Neurofibromatosis type 1 or type 2 (NF1 or NF2)
• Schwannomatosis, a genetic disorder
• Li-Fraumeni syndrome
• Turcot syndrome
• Tuberous sclerosis
• Lynch syndrome
• Constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome

Benign brain tumors vs. malignant brain tumors

Benign brain tumors usually grow slowly and stay in one part of the brain, while malignant brain tumors grow more quickly and may invade other areas of the brain. Growth of both malignant and benign brain tumors can cause a variety of symptoms of brain tumors because of the lack of room to grow.

Whether brain and spine tumors create pressure on the skull, on nearby areas of the brain, on the spine, nerves, or other tissues, they can end up being disabling or life-threatening.

Both types of brain tumors can be hard to remove through surgery when they’re in a place that’s hard to reach and treat. They can also be hard to treat with medicines because of the blood brain barrier – a feature of blood vessels in the brain that makes it harder for medicines to get into the brain.

Brain & spine tumor detection & diagnosis

Advocate Health Care offers a full range of diagnostic testing, from blood tests and biopsies to the most sophisticated imaging technology available. Diagnostic testing includes:

• Advanced MRI: The latest, painless imaging such as functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) as well as 3Tesla MRI, which produces incredibly detailed images to detect even the smallest brain and spinal tumors. It’s also extremely efficient and accurate, which leads to shorter exam times and faster diagnosis.
• CT or CAT scan: Combines multiple X-rays and computer technology to produce detailed images of the brain and spine.
• PET scan: Including Time-of-Flight PET/CT, offering higher image quality to detect masses and lesions on the brain with greater accuracy.
• Magnetic resonance spectroscopy: Noninvasive test for measuring biochemical changes in the brain that may indicate the presence of tumors.
• Lumbar puncture: Looks for spine or brain cancer cells in the fluid in and around your brain and spinal cord – cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Classifying brain & spinal tumors

Traditionally, tumors have been classified based on details about them such as what the tumor cells look like when viewed under a microscope. Cancer specialists have also started classifying tumors based on a process called biomarker testing, which looks at mutations and changes that occur in the genes and chromosomes inside the cells of benign and malignant tumors. Your diagnosis will likely be based on the results of both methods.

Both classification methods require a sample of tissue (biopsy) from the tumor. Biopsies are often gathered at the time of surgery to remove the tumor, particularly for brain tumors. The procedures are combined to minimize stress on the brain and the skull. Biopsies are sometimes done using a needle biopsy procedure, which requires only a small hole in the skull. Needle biopsies may be guided by the use of MRI or CT scans.

If you have questions about your tumor, talk to your doctor.

Need a second opinion?

Getting a second opinion is an important step to ensuring you receive the best possible care. Our multidisciplinary team of specialists can help you:

• Confirm your diagnosis
• Review a treatment plan
• Recommend alternate options
• Offer clinical trial opportunities