———-Early Examination and Early Treatment
Li Ao, a writer, was treated for a brain tumor and was reported to have died at the age of 83 on March 18, 2018, according to Taiwanese media. He was a thinker, a liberal master, a scholar of Chinese modern history, a critics of current affairs, and a historian. He was well known for his critical writing and comment. However, 96 books out of his more than 100 books were forbidden to be published. He was ever called as “the most outstanding critics of modern China” by Western media.
In his life, Li was ever put in prison 2 times due to political reasons. Those are rugged experiences. He wrote lots of books and published critical comment. His critical and unique style impresses the public. In the spring of 2018, he died of cerebroma.
Cerebroma is also called intracranial tumor, a tumor grows in the skull. It is a general name for all kinds of brain tumor, including primary cerebroma caused by brain parenchyma and tumors transferred from other parts of the body. Cerebroma is one of the common diseases in the nervous system and it will bring a great harm to the function of the human nervous system. Generally, it is divided into two major categories: primary one and secondary one.
Pathogenic factors
Gene transcription and protein expression must be tightly controlled in cells. If an error occurs in these processes, it may contribute to tumor development.
Cerebroma is caused mainly by oncogenes and genetic factors, physical factors, chemical factors and oncogenic virus. Oncomolecularbiology research indicates that there are 2 types of genes closely related to the occurrence and development of tumor: oncogene and antioncogene. The activation and overexpression of oncogenes induce the generation of tumors. The existence and expression of anticancer genes help inhibit the occurrence of tumors. However, not all cells with oncogene always generate tumors. They can only develop after repeated stimulations of kinds including biological, chemical, and physical stimulus, such as viruses, x ratios, carcinogenic chemicals, etc. The occurrence of neurofibromatosis, hemangioblastoma, and retinoblastoma are with obvious familial tendency.
Physical factors, such as radioactive ray, can increase the incidence of tumor, which is usually over 30Gy. That causes oncogene of cells to vary again and leads the anaplasia of cells.
Among chemical factors, anthracene compounds are the major factor. Methylcholanthrene, methyl nitrosamine, ethyl nitrosamine and ethylnitrosourea are all carcinogens.
Oncogenic virus is also a factor that can cause the tumor. When virus intrudes in cells, character of gene will be changed and the proliferation will be out of control.
The most common cerebroma is glioma which is generated from gliobacteria—the supportive tissue among the brain tissues. Glioma includes astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, ependymoma, and medulloblastoma.
Except glioma, there are embryonal tumor, meningioma, craniopharyngioma, schwannoma, ganglioglioma, pituitary adenoma, and choroid plexus tumor.
Common symptoms
Cerebroma usually starts in a low speed and the period might be from 1-2 months to years, while some cases might be acute or subacute or even a stroke. The stroke is mostly caused from high development of malignancy.
Cerebroma has 3 major clinical symptoms: headache, vomiting and optic disc edema. Focal symptom depends on the location of the intracranial tumor. Motor and sensory dysfunction are common focal symptoms, such as limb fatigue, paralysis and numbness, convulsions or seizures, visual impairment, visual field defects, olfactory dysfunction, nerve deafness, language disorders, balance disorders, intellectual deterioration, mental symptoms and endocrine disorders, alloplasia, etc. They often make different syndromes.
People with cerebroma usually feel hard breath, slow sphygmus and raising blood pressure.
In daily life, if you have some of these symptoms, you must pay attention and be careful about the possibility of cerebroma:
- Slow response, lazy life; recent memory impairment or even loss; loss of self-knowledge and judgment when it comes serious, irascibility, irritable, or euphoric mood.
- Epileptic attack. Some cases might have a precursor. Before the attack, people might have symptom of fantasy, vertigo, etc. People with parietal lobe tumors can experience abnormal sensation such as numbness of limbs before onset.
- The other side of body with tumor or single limb is weak or paralytic.
- Topesthesia disorder of limb of the other side of body with tumor, disorder of two point discrimination, graphic sense, texture awareness and stereognosis.
- Anandia and impressive aphasia.
- Defect of visual field and hemianopsia.
- Impairment of vision and defect of visual field. Primary optic atrophy.
- Fundus examination can help checking primary optic atrophy.
- Endocrine dysfunction such as, hypogonadism. Impotence and loss of libido are usual symptoms of males. And for females, it is usually lengthening or amenorrhea of the menstrual period.
- Disturbance of pupil’s response and accommodative response to light; tinnitus and deafness; unstable holding and staggering gait; diabetes insipidus; somnolence, obesity; whole body with arrested development and pubertas praecox is usual for man; etc.
- Ataxia of the limbs of the infected side of body; hypomyotonia or loss of the infected side of the body; slow reflexes of knee jerk; etc.
- Tinnitus and hearing loss; vertigo; facial numbness; chorea neuralgica; hoarseness; etc.
In clinical diagnosis, CT brain scan, MRI scan, X-ray examination are commonly used. And CT brain scan and MRI scan are with high diagnostic rate for cerebroma thus are most commonly used. CT brain scan is pretty valuable for the diagnosis of cerebroma. MRI’s resolution on soft tissues is higher than CT thus it is more valuable to the diagnosis of cerebroma.
Brain angiography, radionuclide examination, EEG (electrocardiogram) examination and brainstem evoked potential are all helpful in the diagnosis of cerebroma. Brain angiography can figure out the location of cerebroma and it is one reference of qualitative diagnosis.
Having a rough knowledge, we will be more careful in our daily life and know what we can do in our life and work. Cerebroma is not far away from us and we should have an eye to avoid it. If we can avoid some factors which can cause cerebroma, we may be at lower risk of cerebroma.
When one is diagnosed to be affected cerebroma, it’s important to keep positive and believe it can be well treated and even cured. And try best to do the nursing of the brain.
In cerebroma care, mental nursing is very important to the patient. There would be alopecia during radiotherapy. People should comfort them and let them have no worries on it and inform them that hair would grow again after radiotherapy finished. Supplements of high vitamin, high nutrition, light and digestible food are necessary. Be careful with oral health and mouthwash is advised after dinner and before bedtime.Skin rayed should be kept clean and no chemical or physical stimulation, such as coldness, heat, acid, alkali, lipiodol, friction, trauma, ultraviolet radiation, external application of rubber plaster, etc.