Brain and Nervous System Cancer Treatment Options
At UPMC Hillman Cancer Center you'll receive state-of-the-art, evidence-based treatments tailored to your needs by our skilled care team.
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The symptoms of brain tumors depend on how aggressive the tumor is and where it is in the brain. For instance, if the tumor is in a part of the brain that sends movement signals, you might start being clumsy.
To learn more about brain and nervous system cancer or to make an appointment, you can:
Symptoms of a brain tumor include:
Your doctor will first talk to you about your symptoms. Then they'll ask you to do certain tasks to test your vision and balance to assess brain function.
If the doctor suspects a brain tumor based on this assessment, they'll order a brain imaging scan, most often an MRI.
Abnormal tumor tissue shows up differently on these images than normal tissue. Doctors may also be able to learn if a tumor is benign, slow-growing, or aggressive based on MRI images.
The doctor may also order blood tests to look for proteins created by the tumor, that may show the tumor type.
If the care team can't confirm the tumor type from imaging and blood tests, they'll need to test the tumor itself.
They can do a biopsy to get a tissue sample to send to the lab for testing. Or they can send a piece of the tumor to the lab after they surgically remove it.
Genetic testing of a tumor sample can also provide further details about a tumor's molecular makeup. This can help guide treatment.
Though the overall risk of a brain tumor is low, some factors can put you more at risk.
Brain and Nervous System Cancer Treatment Options
At UPMC Hillman Cancer Center you'll receive state-of-the-art, evidence-based treatments tailored to your needs by our skilled care team.
Learn more about treatment options.Brain and Nervous System Cancer Clinical Trials and Research
At UPMC, we invest in cancer research because we want to improve survival rates and quality of life for people. Learn more about our promising new treatments for brain and nervous system cancers.
Learn more about our clinical trials & research.