Brain Tumor & Fractionated External Beam Radiation

Brain tumors are cancer tumors that originate in the brain or spread to the brain from other parts of the body, such as a lung, kidney or breast. Doctors may use fractionated external beam radiation to treat a brain tumor.

Common Brain Tumors

• According to the Neurological Institute of New York, gliomas are tumors that attack the connective tissue in a patient's brain. Meningiomas are tumors that develop from the meninges, or membranes, that enclose the brain.

Symptoms

• A patient with a brain tumor may experience headaches or seizures. Tumors in the front of the brain may cause changes in personality, and tumors in middle area of the brain may affect a patient's vision or strength.

Fractionated External Beam Radiation Significance

• Fractionated external beam radiation is a form of radiation therapy that uses multiple small doses of radiation from an external source to disrupt the DNA of tumor cells and stop them from growing and spreading. Smaller doses of radiation cause less damage to normal brain cells and fewer side effects than higher doses of radiation.

Features

• Radiation therapy professionals may use imaging techniques such as computerized tomography to target fractionated external beam radiation on microscopic tumor cells and avoid normal brain cells as much as possible.

Other Radiation Types

• Physicians may treat brain cancer patients with other forms of radiation therapy such as gamma knife therapy or proton beam therapy. Doctors may combine brain tumor surgery or chemotherapy with a course of radiation therapy.