A 55-year-old woman was treated with radiosurgery to combat a serious brain tumor, which was leading to progressively worsening neurological complications over a sustained period of time.
The machine used for the treatment is known as Versa HD, a sophisticated beam-shaping linear accelerator that aids precision and speed in the treatment of brain tumors.
"Her condition was very critical when she came to our hospital for consultation; she was experiencing facial nerve palsy (a nervous disorder in which a damaged nerve affects the movement of the muscles of the face) and vertigo (loss of physical balance along with dizziness)symptoms frequently. The patient had been treated surgically at two other hospitals previously, but the surgeries did not work out for her. The tumor, which was 3X3 cm. in size was rare form of tumor in the brain; it came with challenges to our team of doctors particularly because of its location, as the tumor lay very close to the brain stem," said Dr PK Sachdeva, Director and HOD Neurosurgery, Neurosurgeon, Venkateshwar Hospital, Dwarka.
Although rarely fatal, most brain tumors can cause serious physical and mental disabilities and or progressive weakness or paralysis over the long term. Again, some types of gliomas often have the potential to change itself into high-grade malignant tumors, owing to mutation over a significant period.
For Sangita's treatment, keeping the age factor and advanced complications in mind, the team of doctors at Venkateshwar Hospital decided to go for a radiosurgery, a new-age surgical procedure where the skull does not have to be opened to treat the tumor. This treatment involves applying a high dose of radiation by linear acceleration.
"Radiosurgery is a type of treatment that helps in destruction of precisely selected areas of the afflicted tissue by using ionising radiation. As opposed to the conventional radiation, this method focuses only on the site of the tumor. Patient generally needs one to five sittings on daily basis either as an outpatient or as a day care procedure," informs Dr Kuldeep Sharma, Senior, Radiation Oncologist, Venkateshwar Hospital.
"Fortunately, she was neither diabetic nor hypertensive, and did not possess any other significant co-morbidity which could have resulted in additional side effects during the treatment. During conventional whole-brain radiation, the beams cover the entire brain, due to which it may be associated with decline in cognitive functions in few cases. However, in stereotactic radiosurgery, radiation is delivered to more precise and accurate areas inside the brain. The targeted therapy causes notably less collateral damage to healthy brain tissue" informs Dr Kuldeep Sharma. "In Sangita's case too, the site-focused radiosurgery helped her overcome the tumor entirely, without damaging other brain tissues in the surroundings. After having completed the sessions of the therapy, she has shown significant improvement in her cognitive functional abilities, and her quality of daily living has also improved parallel," added Dr. PK Sachdeva.
The incidence of central nervous system (CNS) tumors in India ranges from 5-10 per 1,00,000 population, accounting for 2 per cent of all malignancies. Brain tumors are quite complex, and over 130 types of 'high grade' or 'low grade' brain tumors are known clinically. The risk factors reported are genetic pre-disposition, age, and environmental hazards such as ionising nuclear radiation and close contact with radio-frequency waves from mobile devices.