How We Treat Brain Cancer

Surgery is the most common way to treat brain cancer. Both traditional open surgery and minimally invasive surgery are used. Surgery is done in combination with other treatments, like radiation therapy or chemotherapy. The goal of brain surgery is to remove as much of the tumor or tumors as possible.

This type of therapy uses high-energy X-rays to kill cancer cells and is often the primary treatment for many types of brain cancer. Radiation therapy can be used to shrink a tumor before surgery or may be used after surgery to kill cancer cells that remain in the brain cavity. It may also be used to treat tumors in other areas of the body.

Chemotherapy uses powerful medicines to kill cancer cells all through the body. It may be used to shrink a tumor before surgery or to kill any cancer cells that remain after local treatments such as surgery. Chemotherapy may also treat tumors that have grown in other places in the body. Brain cancer is usually treated with chemotherapy in combination with surgery and radiation therapy.

Targeted therapy is the use of medicines that target parts of cancer cells that make them unlike normal cells. They do this without affecting most normal, healthy cells. The drugs are different from standard chemotherapy medicines and may work when chemotherapy medicines don’t, often with less severe side effects.

Learn more about targeted therapy for brain tumors.