Brain Tumours Flashcards
How do most people with an intracranial tumour present
Progressive neurological deficit - usually motor
Headache
Seizures (less common)
What type of features suggest a headache may be due to a tumour
Worse in the morning or wakes them up
Worse with coughing or leaning forward
Vomiting- headache may feel better after vomiting
- can be v similar to a tension headache or migraine!
What is the most common type of brain tumour
Metastases
What are the signs of raised ICP
headache
vomiting
mental changes
seizures
Why do people get a headache with a tumour?
raised ICP
invasion of dura, blood vessels, periosteum
secondary to diplopia
hypertension- cushings triad
psychogenic - stress due to loss of function
What is cushings triad of raised ICP
a physiological nervous system response to increased intracranial pressure (ICP) that results in Cushing’s triad of increased blood pressure, irregular breathing, and a reduction of the heart rate
What does the frontal lobe control
thought
reasoning
behaviour
memory
MOVEMENT- precentral gyrus
What does the temporal lobe control
behaviour
memory
hearing and vision
emotion
What is controlled in the parietal lobe
intellect
though reasoning memory
SENSATION- post cental gyrus
what does the occipital lobe contol
in a right handed person
left- speech, motor and sensory
right-abstract thoughts
What is a glioma
these are malignant tumours arising from the neuroepithelial tissie
Name the most common tumour arising from neuroepithelial tissue
astrocytomas
what Is an oligodendrogliomas
tumours arising from the oligodendrocytes
- slow growing over many decades
- calcification is common
How are astrocytic tumours grades
1- pleomorphic xanthoastrocytome
2-low grade astrocytoma
3-anaplastic astrocytoma
4-glioblastoma multiforme
what is the pathological hall mark of a glioblastoma
necrosis
What is the prognosis of grade 1 astrocytomas
benign
slow growing
usually in children/young adults
surgery is curative
What is the prognosis of grade 3 and 4 astrocytomas
Poor
2yrs for grade 3, 1 year for grade 4
where are oligodendroglial tumours most commonly found
frontal lobes
how do oligodendroglial tumours typically present
seizures
in adults aged 25-45yrs
What is a collision tumour
oligodendroglial cells coexist with astrocytic cells in a neoplastic collision tumour
What is the prognosis of a low grad oligodendroglial tumour
ten years
What it she mainstay of treatment for oligodendroglial tumours
chemosensitive-
Surgery + chemo
radiotherapy used for seizure decrease but controversial
What is a meningioma
a benign tumour arising from the arachnoid
may grow to a large size over may years
‘extra axial tumours’
usually asymmptomatic
what conditions are menigiomas more common in
breast cancer
NF 2
