Neurosurgery is one of the main treatment alternatives following the diagnosis of a brain tumor. Learn more about neurosurgery and brain tumors, consisting of biopsy treatments, tumor removal, and brain surgery side-effects.
Neurosurgery is surgery performed on the brain or spine. It's performed by an extremely specialized professional called a neurosurgeon.
Every health center or a cosmetic surgeon may have little various practices, so what you experience may differ slightly from what's described on this page and truth sheet.
Why might I need neurosurgery?
Neurosurgery can have a number of functions:
Getting rid of all or part of the tumor (craniotomy).
A medical diagnosis of tumor type (biopsy).
Putting chemotherapy drugs straight into the brain.
Minimizing involved conditions, such as an accumulation of the cerebrospinal fluid, by putting in a shunt.
It is very important to understand that neurosurgery is not constantly possible. If your brain tumor is too near to an important part of the brain, surgery might be too dangerous. In this case, another treatment alternative will be recommended.
Neurosurgery is performed by a highly specialized doctor, referred to as a neurosurgeon.
After neurosurgery.
Immediate impacts:
When you get up after surgery, you will have a variety of tubes coming in and out of your body to help:
drain fluids.
provide you water, nutrients, and medicine.
monitor your body.
You might have swelling and bruising on your face, and you might have a dressing on your injury, but not necessarily. You might also feel some short-lived worsening of the symptoms you had before the surgery. This is generally due to swelling of the brain following the surgery. You may be provided steroids to aid with this.
Other temporary, post-operative results consist of:
illness and queasiness.
aching throat.
headaches.
short-term phases of feeling lightheaded/ confused.
difficulty swallowing.
exhaustion.
brand-new signs, e.g. character modifications, bad balance/ co-ordination, speech problems and epileptic seizures (fits).
Neurosurgery is a significant operation – you will need to rest for a number of days.
Follow-on treatment.
After a few days, you are likely to have a brain scan to see just how much, if any, of the tumor stays and just how much swelling you have. You may then be given chemotherapy and/ or radiotherapy, to eliminate any staying tumor cells. You might also be given:
steroids- to lower swelling and pressure on the brain.
anti-epileptic medication – as a preventative measure against seizures (‘ fits') due to increased pressure in the head.
