What are the auxiliary diagnosis of brain tumors?

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What are the auxiliary diagnosis of brain tumors?

What are the auxiliary diagnosis of brain tumors?  Regardless of males or females, the incidence of brain tumors ranks 10th among systemic tumors.

The manifestations of brain tumors are diverse. In recent years, with the development of neuroimaging technology and functional examination technology, auxiliary examination has become the main method of diagnosing brain tumors.

What are the auxiliary methods for diagnosing brain tumors?

01Physical examination

Comprehensive neurological examination, in addition to special examinations, such as visual field and hearing examinations.

02 Imaging examination

Head CT:

Brain CT examination is a method of examining the brain through CT. In head trauma, brain CT is the most important imaging diagnostic method. It is simple and fast, and can clearly show the bone structure and intracranial hemorrhage is its biggest advantage, but it is second in the diagnosis of brain tumors, not as clear as MRI.

At present, it is mainly used for the diagnosis of physical examination, traumatic brain injury and cerebrovascular disease. It is also very necessary to check after brain tumor surgery, mainly for the detection of acute complications of surgery, such as: bleeding, infarction, brain swelling or tension pneumocranium, and preliminary evaluation of the scope of surgical resection.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MRI):

MRI is also called magnetic resonance imaging, and its full English name is: Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The nuclei often used by people are: 1H, 11B, 13C, 17O, 19F, 31P. At the beginning of the birth of this technology, it was called nuclear magnetic resonance imaging. By the early 1980s, the term NMR imaging (NMR Imaging) as a new medical technology became more and more familiar to the public.

Its value in the diagnosis of brain tumors is the first, and its sensitivity and specificity are significantly better than CT. However, the need for a longer examination time and the inability to show the structure of the skull are its main shortcomings. In recent years, MRI technology has developed rapidly. In addition to traditional examination sequences, MRA (display of cerebral blood vessels), cerebral perfusion imaging and diffusion tension imaging, and MRS (spectral analysis) technology have also emerged.

03 Metabolic imaging examination

PET/CT:

Also known as positron emission/computed tomography, it is a combination of PET and CT. The PET and CT are designed as a whole and controlled by a workstation. When single PET is used for nuclear medicine imaging, it has superior characteristics such as early detection sensitivity that other diagnostic equipment cannot match. However, due to the limitations of drugs and their principles, the positioning accuracy is not good enough. Some manufacturers later designed PET and CT as a whole. During scanning, PET imaging and CT imaging are performed at the same time as required, and the two images are merged together by the workstation to achieve better identification and positioning.

It has certain significance in judging the benign and malignant tumor, the residual status of the tumor, and the identification of tumor recurrence and radiation necrosis. The biggest advantage is that the whole body can be scanned at the same time, which is of higher value in the diagnosis of brain metastases. The disadvantage is that it requires the application of radioisotopes and is more expensive.

MRS:

Also known as magnetic resonance spectroscopy, it is currently mainly used in the diagnosis of brain diseases. It has certain clinical significance in judging the metabolism of the disease, especially in the identification of glioma recurrence and radiation necrosis, as well as malignant tumors and inflammation. The disadvantage is that the inspection time is long, and many MRI machines are not equipped with corresponding system software, so MRS inspection can be performed without MRI.

04 Hormone Check

For patients with pituitary tumors, especially those with excessive secretion of hormones in the anterior pituitary gland, it can be confirmed by blood biochemical examinations, which is also a common diagnostic method for brain cancer. Prolactin, growth hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, gonadotropin, etc. can be detected separately to clarify the nature of pituitary disease. Among them, prolactinoma is the most common, accounting for about 50%, followed by growth hormone adenoma, Adrenal cortex hormone adenoma.

05 EEG and EEG topography (BEAM) examination

It has high positioning value for convex tumors or lesions of the cerebral hemisphere, but it is difficult to diagnose tumors in the midline, deep hemispheres and subtentorial.

06 EEG recording

★Visual evoked potentials, used to diagnose diseases on the visual conduction pathway into tumors; ★Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP), used to record abnormal potentials of lesions or tumors in the pontine cerebellar angle and brainstem; ★Somatosensory evoked potentials Used for brain function assessment of patients with intracranial tumors.

07 Blood and other tests

Some tumors may be adjacent to important blood vessels or have features that indicate that they originate from blood vessels, and angiography should be performed at this time. Routine examinations are necessary to complete some tumor secreted substances may be detected in blood and cerebrospinal fluid through lumbar puncture to obtain cerebrospinal fluid, spinal fluid may be detected in malignant tumor cells. Lumbar puncture is dangerous when intracranial pressure increases. CT and MRI scans can now determine whether the ventricles are enlarged, which greatly reduces the risk.

 Early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment of brain tumors are essential. However, to achieve early diagnosis and treatment of brain tumors, it is necessary to be familiar with the common clinical symptoms of brain tumors, especially the early symptoms that are easily overlooked.

(1) Olfactory disturbance and phantom smell:

Olfactory disturbances caused by brain tumors generally manifest as persistent and irreversible hyposmia or loss, which can be accompanied by neurological symptoms such as headaches, personality changes, and memory loss. Or phantom smell, that is, if you smell strange odors under inexplicable circumstances, you should be highly vigilant;

(2) Visual impairment:

Visual disturbances caused by brain tumors often manifest as decreased vision, visual field defects and diplopia within a short period of time;

(3) Hearing loss:

Acoustic neuroma is the most common brain tumor that causes hearing loss. If unilateral hearing loss is accompanied by numbness and ataxia on the same side, it should be taken seriously;

(4) Difficulty swallowing, coughing when drinking water;

(5) Sexual and reproductive dysfunction:

Women show irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, infertility, and non-lactating galactorrhea; men show impotence and infertility; children show precocious puberty and delayed sexual development. If the diagnosis and treatment of andrology and obstetrics and gynecology are not effective or those with visual impairment, they should be highly alert to the possibility of brain tumors;

(6) Decline in memory and change in personality:

Mostly manifested as unresponsiveness, laziness in life, loss of near memory, or even loss, and loss of insight and judgment in severe cases, and can also be manifested as grumpy and agitated.

(source:internet, reference only)

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