Brain Basics
This 3-pound organ acts as the "boss" or control centre of your body.
What is the brain?
This is the most common symptom of a brain tumor, often feeling worse first thing in the morning.
What is a headache?
Doctors use this "M" word—a type of powerful scan—to get a clear picture of the inside of the brain.
What is an MRI?
This common treatment involves a surgeon physically removing as much of the tumor as possible.
What is surgery?
These tiny "building blocks" make up your brain and body; a tumor happens when they grow when they shouldn't.
What are cells?
This symptom describes a sudden, unusual change in how a person acts or feels emotionally.
What are personality changes?
This medical specialist is a surgeon who specifically operates on the brain and spine.
What is a neurosurgeon?
This is the term for when a tumor comes back after it has been treated.
What is recurrence?
The brain and spinal cord together make up this system, abbreviated as the CNS.
What is the Central Nervous System?
This symptom involves sudden, uncontrollable electrical activity in the brain, sometimes triggered by the tumor sitting on the brain's surface.
What are seizures?
This term describes a tumor that is cancerous and can grow or spread quickly.
What is a malignant tumor?
This treatment uses high-energy beams to target and destroy tumor cells.
What is radiation therapy?
This is the specific name for the two halves of the brain
What are hemispheres?
A tumor in the occipital lobe might cause double or blurred versions of this sense.
What is vision?
A doctor uses this numbering system (usually 1 to 4) to describe how fast a tumor is growing.
What is the grade?
These are research studies that test new, cutting-edge treatments to see if they work better than current ones.
What are clinical trials?
These cells make up about 90% of the brain and often give rise to tumors called "gliomas".
What are glial cells?
A tumor near the brainstem might cause you to lose this, making you feel clumsy or prone to falling.
What is balance?
This type of tumor is non-cancerous and usually grows slowly.
What is a benign tumor?
This treatment uses special drugs to kill cancer cells throughout the body.
What is chemotherapy?