Spinal Cord Tumor

Signs & symptoms

脊髓内的肿瘤通常会引起可检测的症状, while spinal tumors outside of the cord may develop for some time before symptoms emerge. Common symptoms include:

• Back pain
• 腿、脚或手感到冷
• Loss of bowel control
• 丧失知觉，尤指腿部丧失知觉
• 肌肉无力，行走困难
• Muscle contractions or spasms

Diagnosis

The first test to diagnose brain and spinal column tumors is a neurological examination. Special imaging techniques such as computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) are also performed.

Laboratory tests include the electroencephalogram (EEG) and the spinal tap. A biopsy, a surgical procedure in which a sample of tissue is taken from a suspected tumor, 帮助十大赌博平台排行榜诊断肿瘤类型.

Treatments

Radiation therapy

Most patients with primary spinal cord tumors will not require radiation therapy. Radiation, however, is used to treat spinal cord compression due to metastatic cancer or cancer that has spread from other locations. Other targets of radiation include some primary cancers of the spine and more rarely, benign or low-grade spinal cord tumors that cannot be completely removed surgically.

The spinal cord is even more sensitive to the effects of radiation than the brain. Our radiation oncologists work carefully to minimize the risk of radiation-induced damage to normal spinal tissue since it can be progressive and irreversible. The thoracic spinal cord segments, 或者那些位于胸部附近的肿瘤，那里有一半的脊柱肿瘤发生, 他们对辐射的影响最敏感吗.

放射外科用一种先进的设备，叫做 CyberKnife may be an option for some patients. The CyberKnife is a painless, non-invasive threatment that delivers high doses of precisely targeted radiation to destroy tumors or lesions. Radiosurgery minimizes radiation exposure to healthy tissue surrounding the tumor.

射波刀使用机械臂来发射高度聚焦的辐射光束. 机械臂的灵活性使得治疗身体的某些部位成为可能, such as the spine and spinal cord, 这是其他放射外科技术无法治疗的.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, similar to that used for brain tumors, may be recommended in adults for spinal gliomas that progress after surgery and radiation.

化疗是使用药物杀死癌细胞. 你的十大赌博平台排行榜可能只使用一种药物或混合使用, 通常是口服或注射到血管或肌肉中. Intrathecal chemotherapy involves injecting the drugs into the cerebrospinal fluid.

Chemotherapy is usually given in cycles: a treatment period followed by a recovery period, then another treatment period, and so on. 患者通常不需要留在十大赌博平台排行榜接受治疗. 大多数药物可以在十大赌博平台排行榜的办公室或门诊给药. However, depending on the drugs used, 给药的方式和病人的总体健康状况, 可能需要短期住院.

Surgery

While surgery is increasingly recommended for benign and malignant primary spinal cord tumors, 手术在脊柱转移中的作用, 或者癌症已经扩散到脊柱, is controversial. 影像的最新发展以及新的手术工具和技术, 如超声波吸入器和激光器, 手术作为一种干预手段的作用是否得到了显著的扩展.

用于转移性肿瘤伴脊髓压迫, some neurosurgeons may perform surgery in selected patients to relieve pressure and pain, reconstruct or stabilize the spine, 保持活动能力和肠道和膀胱功能, and to maximize quality of life. Some doctors may only recommend surgery for patients with a single metastatic tumor and no evidence of cancer growing at another site.