Risk of getting brain cancer in children increases with multiple CT scans

12 June, 2012

According to a study published in The Lancet, researchers from Newcastle University in the UK and the National Cancer Institute, the risk of getting brain cancer is triples in children having CT scan more than two times.

CT SCANS are used for children to diagnose injuries on head, neck and spine. The risk of cancer develops due to the exposure of ionizing radiation during the CT scan, and the risk is more in children as they are sensitive to radiation. Researchers said that out of 176,358 patients 135 were diagnosed with brain cancer due to CT scan.

Brain cancer is an abnormal growth of cells in the brain. It can be caused due to primary brain cells or due to the growth of cancer cells, which are developed in the other organs and spreads to brain and taking this into consideration, the brain cancer can be divided into two types:

1. Primary brain cancer: The brain is made up of different kinds of cells, and brain cancer occurs when one type of cell grows and multiplies abnormally, deviating from its normal characteristics. This abnormal cells ends up forming a tumor. These tumors are named after the part of the brain or the type of the cell from which they originate. The tumors are generally called primary brain tumors because they are developed in the brain.

2. Metastatic brain cancer: This is a brain cancer caused due to cancerous cells from some other part of the body, which spreads to the brain. The common cancers that spreads to the brain are breast cancer, lung cancer, kidney cancer and skin cancer. Metastatic brain cancer is more common than primary brain cancer.

The causes of brain cancers can be HIV infection, radiation to the head, smoking, environmental toxins, genetic factors and more usage of mobile phones. According to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), cellphones are listed in the items which causes brain cancer.

Brain cancer symptoms are not shown by all brain tumors, some tumors are recognized only after the death of the patient. Brain cancer symptoms appear in the later stages, and the common symptoms can be weakness, clumsiness, headache, seizures and difficulty while walking. The other non-specific symptoms of brain cancer can be nausea and vomiting - particularly in the morning, changes in mental condition, difficulty while speaking, abnormalities in vision and gradual change in intellectual and emotional feelings.

Brain cancer treatment plan depends on the age, the type of tumor, and the location and size of the tumor. The different types of treatments are drug therapies, surgeries, complementary and alternative therapies. The drugs therapies used for the brain cancer treatment are steroids to relive inflammation, anticonvulsents to prevent sizures, radiation therapy to destroy the tumor, chemotherapy to kill cancer cells, brachytherapy and a drug called Bevacizumab (avastin), which blocks the growth of blood vessels which helps in tumor formation.