How to Treat Astrocytoma

Astrocytoma is a tumor derived primarily from an astrocyte. They usually arise in the cerebellum in children and the cerebrum in adults. Astrocytomas tend to grow rapidly and invade extensively. There are two classes of tumor based on the zone of infiltration and multiple grading schemes that generally rely on the degree of anaplasia exhibited by the tumor. The following steps will show how to treat astrocytomas.

Instructions

• 1

  Provide therapy with anticonvulsants for patients with a history of seizures and monitor the drug concentration in the blood stream.

• 2

  Use corticosteroids such as dexamethasone to reduce the astrocytoma's size. This usually results in a rapid improvement but a prophylaxis also must be prescribed for the gastrointestinal ulcers associated with corticosteroids.

• 3

  Perform surgery to reduce the astrocytoma and provide a biopsy. A histological analysis allows the therapy to be tailored to the patient and a stereotactic biopsy is safe and simple.

• 4

  Take a biopsy large enough to provide the needed histological information but not big enough to induce an intracerebral hemorrhage. The cerebrospinal fluid may need to be diverted by an external ventricular drain or ventriculoperitoneal shunt in order to decrease the intracranial pressure.

• 5

  Resect as much of the astrocytoma as possible. A complete resection may not be possible because these tumors often infiltrate the brain on a microscopic scale. The goals of surgical resection are primarily to improve the chances of survival and obtain the histology of the tumor instead of affecting a cure.