Contents:
- Medical Video: Pediatric Brain Tumors – FAQs
- What are the consequences if a child's cerebellum is damaged by a tumor?
- What causes medullobastoma?
- Symptoms and characteristics of medulloblastoma
- Level of medulloblastoma
- How do you treat medulloblastoma?
Medical Video: Pediatric Brain Tumors – FAQs
Brain tumors are one type of tumor that attacks many children. Severy year almost 2000 children are diagnosed with brain tumors. There are many types of brain tumors that may attack children, one of which is medulloblastoma, which is often detected in children younger than 10 years. This disease tends to occur more in children than in adults.
Just like other types of tumors, medulloblastoma begins to attack children when brain cells, which were originally healthy, grow continuously in a short period of time. This uncontrolled growth of brain cells generally occurs in cells in the back of the brain, cerebellum or cerebellum, whose duty is to control body movements and muscle coordination.
This tumor is categorized as a tumor malignant or cause cancer that aggressively attacks the central nervous system on the cerebellum. Because it attacks this very vital location, medulloblastoma can cause long-term smallpox in the intellectual and nerve functions of children, it can even threaten the lives of children if not handled quickly and accurately.
What are the consequences if a child's cerebellum is damaged by a tumor?
When the child's cerebellum is damaged, there will be difficulty in maintaining the body's balance, slowing movement, and tremor. Motor activities that are usually carried out by children everyday will be disrupted. Some things will happen if the cerebellum before the child is damaged:
- Loss of coordination of child motor movements (asynergia)
- Inability to estimate distances and when to stop when moving (dysmetria)
- Inability to make movement changes (adiadochokinesia)
- Tremor
- Loss of ability goes well, like being staggered (ataxic gait)
- Tendency to fall
- Weakening of muscles (hypotonia)
- Speaking less clearly (ataxic dysarthria)
- Abnormal eye movements (nystagmus)
What causes medullobastoma?
Medulloblastoma is an abnormality in the growth of brain cells in the cerebellum or cerebellum. Changes in the behavior of cerebellar cells are identified with changes in genes and chromosomes. However, like other types of tumors, the exact cause of medulloblastoma is unknown. There are also several genetic syndromes that are associated with an increased risk of developing tumors in the brain.
Symptoms and characteristics of medulloblastoma
Medulloblastoma is generally difficult to detect at the age of a child who is too young, so it sometimes causes a late diagnosis. Children who suffer from medulloblastoma generally experience symptoms such as headaches, vomiting without nausea especially in the morning, and strangeness in movement (awkward). In addition, there may also be problems or setbacks in the ability to write, catch the ball, and other motor skills, as well as vision problems.
In some cases, the tumor can spread to the spinal cells, which causes back pain and difficulty walking (ataxia).
Level of medulloblastoma
Based on the growth and / or spread of the tumor, medulloblastoma disease is divided into two levels, namely standard-risk and high-risk tumor. On standard-risk, the tumor is only found at the very back of the brain and does not spread to other areas of the brain or spine. After the operation process, generally tumor cells almost completely disappear or at least less than 1.5 cm2.
Meanwhile, at the level high-risk tumor, tumor cells found in the cerebellum of the child have spread to parts of the brain and / or spine. In more severe circumstances, the tumor that has been removed in the operation returns again. Not only does it attack the brain or spine, the 'back' tumor can also attack other parts of the body - although it is very rare.
How do you treat medulloblastoma?
If the child is attacked by this tumor, there are several methods of treatment (of course according to the direction of the medical personnel concerned), including surgery, radiation therapy, and therapy using chemicals or chemotherapy.
Brain surgery is generally the first step in the treatment of medulloblastoma, with the aim of removing and removing as much of the tumor cells from the brain as possible. If tumor cells persist after surgery, or when cancer cells have spread, the patient will undergo therapy using high-energy X-rays or other radiation beams to kill cancer cells.
Furthermore, chemotherapy can also be used using 'hard' drugs which also aim to stop and kill cancer cells that tend to have spread to other parts of the body.
