Here is what we have learned from this unit:
- Brain and CNS cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related
death in patients younger than age 35 in this country.
- A benign CNS tumor can be just as dangerous over time
as a malignant one if it begins to press on a vital area
of brain tissue.
- Brain cancer symptoms depend very much on the size of
the cancer and where it is located within the brain.
- Neurons are the conducting cells of the nervous system;
glial (neuroglia) cells do not conduct nerve impulses, but
instead, they support, nourish, and protect the neurons.
- Major categories of brain tumor based on WHO classification
are:
- Tumors of neuroepithelial tissue
- Tumors of peripheral nerves
- Tumors of meninges
- Tumors of sellar region
- Germ cell tumors
- Lymphomas
- Metastatic tumors
- In addition to ICD-O-3 morphology code, other grading
systems used to describe CNS tumors are WHO grade, Kernohan
grade, and St. Anne/Mayo grade.
- Basically, all brain tumors are considered localized unless
they cross the midline or the tentorium or unless they are
described as having "drop" metastases in the spinal
cord.
- Brain tumors can be staged with SEER Summary Stage and
Collaborative Stage; TNM staging for brain tumors was withdrawn
from 5th and 6th editions.
- In determining multiple primaries, separate rules are
used for non-malignant and malignant brain tumors in terms
of timing, primary site, Laterality, and Histology.
- The sequence number indicates the sequence of all reportable
neoplasms over the lifetime of the patient and it is recorded
in the sequence number data field.
- Generally the treatment of choice is surgery unless the
tumor is in an inaccessible or delicate area.
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