Brain Tumor Swelling After Radiation

The health care team watches for signs of this problem and may prescribe medications to decrease swelling.

Brain tumor swelling after radiation. Brain metastases occur when cancer cells spread from their original site to the brain. When your doctor decides it is safe you will be given a schedule to gradually reduce the dose of the medication. Skin and scalp changes. I was originally put on dexamethasone 4mg 2 x day but after 16 days of that with no sleep and couldn t eat had to be cut back to just 4mg once per day.

Steroids reduce brain swelling from the tumor itself or from the effects of radiation therapy. Any cancer can spread to the brain but the types most likely to cause brain metastases are lung breast colon kidney and melanoma. You dose may be changed as needed during your treatment. Take steroids only as directed by your doctor.

Learn about signs of edema including swelling in your feet ankles and legs. Extreme tiredness fatigue hearing loss. Trouble with memory and speech. Swelling in the brain hair loss near the treated area if close to the scalp.

Some short term memory loss and difficulty thinking can occur if you are treated with whole brain radiation therapy. Some of these side effects can happen because radiation has caused the brain to swell. This is truly the med from hell. Even the lower dose makes sleep difficult.

Brain tissue swelling can develop during treatment. Per an mri i was told it was brain swelling after the fact from radiation and that it is not that uncommon. Doctors call this oedema. Cancer that spreads to the brain is usually treated with radiosurgery highly focused radiation with a tool such as the gamma knife followed by less intense radiation to the whole brain.

It will regrow on its own. This can be frightening because you might think the radiotherapy isn t working. Radiotherapy to the brain causes a short term swelling in the treatment area which raises the pressure in the brain. Edema is a condition in which fluid builds up in your body s tissues.

You may get a headache or feel pressure in your head if this occurs. It can make your symptoms worse for a time. Acute reactions occur immediately after treatment and are caused by radiation induced brain swelling edema. Brain metastases or secondary brain tumors occur in 10 to 30 percent of adults with cancer.

Symptoms can mimic the symptoms of your brain tumor like speech problems or muscle weakness or those of increased intracranial pressure such as headache nausea or double vision. Radiation necrosis which is the death of brain tissue at or near the treatment site.