Stage 4 Brain Cancer

Stage 4 Brain Cancer

Cancer is known as the most deadly disease. There are five stages of cancer all together and stage 4 is the last phase of cancer. What are the characteristics of stage 4 Brain Cancer? How can it be diagnosed and treated? How long is someone in Stage 4 Brain Cancer supposed to live?

What is stage 4 brain cancer?
1. Characteristics
As mentioned above, every cancer stage has its own characteristics that are different from those in other stages. These are the characteristics of stage 4 brain cancer:

• Brain cells outgrow blood supply in stage 4
• These cells grow rapidly
• Brain Tumors in stage 4 also spread to other tissues
• New blood vessels also tend to grow during this cancer stage

2. Symptoms
The symptoms at this level are stated according to their location in the body. Stage 4 brain cancer symptoms are:

• Hearing problems
• Lethargy
• Lack of coordination
• Memory loss
• Hallucinations
• Vision problems
• Weakness and Numbness In Legs and arms
• Seizures
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Behavior change
• Changes in weight
• Frequent and unusual Headaches
• Dizziness

3. Types
Although most brain cancers fall under stage 4 cancer, it is important to classify them as they ought to be. More on the types of cancer is that they are classified depending on the origin of the tumor. According to (WHO) World Health Organization, there are 9 types of brain cancer but will only discuss a few here. Some of these cancers are:

• Ependymoblastoma This is a type of cancer in young children and infants. It usually appears in that part of the brain that contains cerebrospinal fluid.
  
  
• Glioblastoma This is the second type of brain cancer. This cancer originates from the cerebral hemisphere and takes about 12% of all the brain cancers. This cancer originates from astrocytes. Astrocytes are types of brain cells.
  
  
• Medulloblastomas This is another type of brain cancer found in children. It originates in the Cerebellum before spreading to other parts of the body.
  
  
• Pineoblastomas This type of cancer occurs in the pineal gland. This refers to the pine shaped gland in the vertebrae part of the brain.
  
  

4. Prognosis and life expectancy
In order to determine the chances for survival of a cancer patient, it is important to understand the type of cancer they have. This is because there are different factors that determine life expectancy. Some of the factors that determine survival rate as follows:

• Nature of the cancer
• Treatment received
• Cancer stage at which the disease was diagnosed
• Age of patient
• Type of cancer
• Physical and mental factors

Depending on the stage of the tumor, life expectancy is anywhere from a few months to five years.

• The average life expectancy for patients over 60 is about 1 - 2 years.
• An adult (below 40) is likely to live with the cancer for more than 5 years.
• The 5 year survival rate for stage 4 cancer in infants is lower than 30%.
• Patients with glioblastoma are known to live for less than a year. This is the average time they are known to survive.
• 88% of Pineoblastoma patients live for a year while those suffering from ependymoblastoma are known to die after the first 6 and 12 months of diagnosis.
• Those with medulloblastoma have an average of 5 year. It is only between 50 and 70% that survive here. This is according to the National Cancer Institute.

5. Treatments
As cancer at this stage spreads at a very high rate, treatment begins immediately after diagnosis. Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy are examples of cancer treatments at stage 4. It is only after a scan is done that the doctor progresses with the treatment. A biopsy is also helpful in analyzing tumors.

• Surgery This is where doctors try to remove all the tumors in the brain. They open the skull and remove all the visible tumors without damaging any tissues in the brain.
  
  
• Radiation and chemotherapy Patients receive chemotherapy after either 2 or 3 weeks of surgery. During chemotherapy, more than one type of drug is used to destroy the cancer cells. This is not the case in radiation. This is because radiation uses ions and not drugs. It is these ions that target the tumor for destruction.
  
  

What are the stages of brain cancer?
A brain tumor is the uncontrolled growth of damaged cells in the brain. This growth also spreads to the spinal column causing more harm to the body. Below is a table detailing the stages of a brain cancer:

Stage zero	This is the stage where the cancer has only developed in layers on a particular cell. It is the early stages of brain cancer.
Stage one	Although the cells are already infected, they appear normal. This is because it is hard to see the cancer cells at this stage. The good thing about the cancer in this stage is that it can be cured. Surgery is the most preferred method of treating stage 1 cancer.
Stage two	Although the cancer cells are growing at a very high rate in this stage, the cancer is still curable or could be treated. Apparently, chances are that cancer is bound to return even after treatment. This is because it has already spread to most tissues in the body and thus hard to clear.
Stage three	In this stage, the already damaged cells are growing rapidly. Besides spreading in the brain, these cells begin to spread to other tissues in the body
Stage four (metastasis)	This is the scariest cancer stage. This is because the disease has already spread to almost all parts of the body and chances of curing it are low. In other words, it is hard to treat stage 4 cancer.

Stage 4 Brain Cancer

Stage 4 Brain Cancer






Stage 4 or Grade IV is the most advanced type of cancer in which the tumors are highly malignant.

Stages of Brain Cancer :

Grade 1 : They are very mild tumor and the cells are not malignant (cancer causing). Often, the growth of tumor is very slow and it looks very much normal in appearance. Surgery is highly effective for grade 1 tumor. Some of the common types of this type of brain cancer are gangliocytoma, pilocytic astrocytoma and craniopharnygioma. These tumors do not cause any problem to the person and he/she would have almost no symptoms.

Grade 2 : This type is not malignant but the growth is more than the first grade. The tumor may look abnormal when viewed through a microscope. Treatment is highly effective even in this grade and only in few cases the tumor would spread to nearby tissues passing on to malignant stage.

Grade 3 : These types of tumor are malignant (cancerous) and the cells are truly abnormal growing rapidly in size and shape. The cancerous cells often metastasize to the nearby tissues of the brain and even after surgery and other treatments, cancer may recur.

Grade 4 : This type of brain cancer is the most malignant one and they multiply rapidly giving bizarre appearance when seen under a microscope. They often attack and spread to other tissues and cells nearby. Blood vessels would form from these cells so that cancerous tumor can easily grow and multiply. Glioblastoma is an example of grade 4 tumor. Rate of survival is almost nil in this stage. It is also known as anaplastic astrocytoma.

Causes :

Exact cause is not known. But glioblastoma is common in males when compared with females. It occurs commonly in the lobes but in some cases it may develop on the Cerebellum also. People (males, in particular) of above 55 years are at risk of developing brain cancer. Over exposure of radiation treatment increases the risk.

Symptoms :

In some cases there are no symptoms until the cancer has progressed to grade 3 or 4. However symptoms of brain cancer vary with respect to its size and location. Some people may have signs of intense Headache, seizures, nausea and vomiting. But this can also cause change in mental status, personality changes, loss of memory and slurred speech all of a sudden.

Diagnosis :

After completing the imaging tests like MRI scanning, your doctor would order for a biopsy. Biopsy is the process of removing tiny sample of cancerous cell and testing it in the laboratory to get clear picture about the grade of cancer. If the tumor cells look very much like normal healthy cells, it is described as low grade tumor. Here the chance of recovery is high after surgery or any treatment and often this is grouped under Grade 1 and 2.

But if the tissue studied under a microscope is totally looking different from the healthy tissue it is described as high grade tumor. Rate of survival is low in high grade (which falls under Grade 3 and 4). In grade 3 tumor the cells are actively dividing and it is hypercellular. At this stage the tumor is known as anaplastic astrocytoma. In grade 4 apart from the active division and multiplication of cells it also has growth of blood vessel and accumulation of dead cells in it. This stage is described as glioblastoma.

Treatment :

Stage 4 of brain cancer cannot be cured but treatment is given to control the growth of tumor and to prevent the invading of cancer cells to other tissues and organs.

• Surgery :

This is the first line treatment for grade 4 cancer of brain. The surgeon is the right person to decide whether particular patient is suitable for surgical approach. He would completely remove the tumor causing cells along with some of the healthy cells nearby. However complete removal of tumor may not be possible in certain regions of the brain. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy is given after surgery to destroy the leftover cancer cells.