[31] Cancers of the Central Nervous System Flashcards
What % of all cancers are brain tumours?
2-5%
What % of cancer deaths are caused by brain tumours?
2%
What is more common, primary brain tumours or mets to brain?
Mets
Where do mets to the brain commonly arise from?
- Lung
- Breast
- Skin (melanoma)
- Kidney
How can nasopharyngeal cancers spread to the brain?
They can extend directly through the foramina of the skull and involve the brain
What might meningeal metastases occur from?
- Leukaemia
- Lymphoma
- Breast cancer
- Small-cell lung cancer
- Local extension of medulloblastoma and ependymal gliomas
What % of CNS tumours occur in the spinal cord?
Less than 20%
Is the cause of most adult brain tumours known?
No
What can be associated with brain tumours that tend to occur in children or young adults?
Inherited phakomatoses
What inherited phakomatoses are associated with brain tumours in children and young adults?
- Tuberous sclerosis
- Li-Fraumeni syndrome
- Turcot syndrome
- Neurofibromatosis type I
- von Hippel-Lindau disease
- Gorlin’s basal naves syndrome
What specific brain tumours are associat4ed with von Hippel-Lindau disease?
I’m only joking we obvs don’t need to know this lol got u
What can the symptoms of glial tumours be divided into?
- General
- Focal
What causes the general symptoms of glial tumours?
Mass effects
What can mass effects cause in glial tumours?
- Increased ICP
- Oedema
- Midline shift and herniation
What symptoms can be produced by midline shift in glial tumours?
- Progressive altered mental state
- Personality changes
- Headaches
- Seizures
- Papilloedema
What do focal symptoms of glial tumours depend on?
The site of the tumour
What % of primary seizures are due to tumours?
Less than 10%
What % of supratentorial tumours present with seizures?
20%
How do meningiomas present?
- Headache
- Seizures
- Motor and sensory disturbance
- Cranial neuropathies (depending on site)
Where do meningiomas cause characteristic changes?
Plain skull radiographs
What are the characteristic changes on plain skull radiographs associated with meningiomas?
- Bone erosion
- Calcification
- Hyperostosis
Are meningiomas more common in men or women?
Women
What is the frequency of tumour sites in the spinal cord?
- 70% thoracic
- 20% lumbosacral
- 10% cervical
Where do spinal cord metastases most commonly occur from?
- Breast
- Lung
- Prostate
- Sarcoma
- Lymphoma
How do spinal axis tumours present?
- Sensorimotor dysfunction
- Radicular symptoms
- Syringomelia symptoms
What causes sensorimotor dysfunction in spinal axis tumours?
Cord compression
What causes radicular symptoms in spinal axis tumours?
Local extension of a tumour