What’s an ependymoma and the way is it treated?

Ependymoma is a kind of tumor that forms within the central nervous system. It will possibly develop in each the brain and the spinal cord. It’s more common in young children than in adults; nonetheless, it may arise at any age. Its presence tends to cause a blockage of cerebrospinal fluid circulation.

The issue is that many individuals could also be asymptomatic for a very long time or express very nonspecific symptoms. Hence, diagnosis is commonly delayed. Fortunately, there are actually several therapies available to deal with the issue. We’ll inform you all the small print in the next space.

What’s an ependymoma?

Ependymoma is a primary tumor that may begin within the brain or spinal cord (central nervous system). It doesn’t come from every other a part of the body. An article shared by National Center for Biotechnology Information explains that it develops from glial cells.

To be more precise, it comes from ependymal cells, people who line the ventricles of the brain and the ependymal duct of the spinal cord. The disease constitutes about 5% of intracranial gliomas in adults and as much as 10% of childhood central nervous system tumors.

Ependymal cells are answerable for producing cerebrospinal fluid at the extent of the cerebral ventricles. In the remaining of the central nervous system, they facilitate the movement of this fluid. In itself, it plays a very important role in protecting this method.

Ependymoma occurs when these cells proliferate uncontrollably, leading to a tumor. It’s normally soft, gray, or reddish in color. And while it’s rare, it may affect people of any age. The essential difference between children and adults is the situation.

• In children, this cancer normally affects the lower half of the brain.
• Meanwhile, in adults, it’s more common for the spinal cord to be affected.

Types and grades of ependymoma

Ependymoma could be classified into different types and grades. The kinds are distinguished from one another in line with their location within the brain or inside the spine. Then again, the grades correspond to the atypia of the cells.

That’s, cancer cells that differ barely from normal cells constitute a low-grade tumor. Nonetheless, those which can be formed by cells which have little or no resemblance to healthy cells shall be high-grade.

Grade I ependymoma

Grade I ependymomas are those formed by cells that grow slowly. Inside this group, we discover the subependymoma and myxopapillary ependymoma types. Each types are more frequent in adults than in children.

• Subependymomas are people who develop near the cerebral ventricles.
• Myxopapillary ependymomas occur within the spinal cord. The truth is, it normally affects the lower a part of the spinal cord.

Grade II tumors

Grade II tumors are more frequent than the previous ones. They’re faster growing and include a large number of subtypes. For instance, they include papillary and cellular ependymomas.

Grade III ependymomas

Grade III ependymomas are essentially the most aggressive. The cells are very atypical and have very rapid growth. Also called an ‘anaplastic ependymoma‘. It’s more common for them to develop contained in the skull, either within the brain or within the brainstem.

They’ve a greater capability for dissemination, as they will spread through the cerebrospinal fluid. It’s subsequently possible that other tumor foci may appear within the brain or spinal cord. Nonetheless, they don’t normally metastasize to other organs.

What are the symptoms?

Ependymoma occurs in several parts of the central nervous system. As well as, it may affect people of any age. All these aspects make the symptomatology very variable. The truth is, as we identified within the introduction, some people have hardly any symptoms in any respect.

Some of the frequent signs is headaches. The tumor may cause intracranial pressure to extend, so nausea, vomiting, and malaise are also common. Some patients experience blurred vision or lack of vision.

Lack of balance, difficulty walking, and seizures may also occur. When ependymoma affects the medulla, weakness, and tingling within the extremities are common. There might also be neck pain.

Causes and risk aspects

As with every other tumor, ependymoma appears since the cells begin to proliferate in an uncontrolled manner. The cause is a mutation within the DNA of those cells. Nonetheless, it isn’t known why this happens.

Nonetheless, it has been shown that individuals with neurofibromatosis type 2 are more in danger for this disease. It is a genetic disorder that favors the formation of tumors within the nervous system.

How is an ependymoma diagnosed?

The diagnosis of ependymoma is complex and requires certain complementary tests. Often, the neurologist performs an entire neurological examination to guage the patient’s senses, coordination, reflexes, and cranial nerves.

Through this examination and knowledge of the symptoms, the presence or absence of the tumor and its location could be determined. Imaging tests, equivalent to magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography, are often performed at the moment.

Because the Mayo Clinic specialists explain, these tests are obligatory to look at the tumor. In some cases, a lumbar puncture can be performed. It is a test that consists of extracting cerebrospinal fluid by puncturing an area between the vertebrae.

The fluid is analyzed within the laboratory to find out if there are tumor cells or alterations that indicate their presence. The tumor itself can be normally analyzed to see what the cells that make it up are like.

Treatments available

Fortunately, there are other ways to treat this disease. The truth is, as explained in a publication by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital the survival rate is kind of high. The five-year survival rate is taken into account to be between 70 and 85%.

The primary therapeutic option is surgery. The aim is to remove your complete tumor or to scale back its size as much as possible. The issue is that it’s normally positioned in delicate areas which can be difficult to operate on. It’s subsequently not at all times possible to remove your complete tumor.

Many patients, subsequently, require other treatments to eliminate residual cancer cells. Certainly one of these is radiotherapy. There are different modalities, equivalent to intensity-modulated or proton therapy.

These are techniques that aim to focus radiation on the tumor area and reduce damage to healthy tissues. Radiation therapy could also be useful to stop the reoccurrence of ependymoma. Radiosurgery, which consists of concentrating the radiation on specific points of the tumor, can be used.

Chemotherapy is one other link within the treatment. Nonetheless, it’s not very effective. This feature will likely be reserved for cases wherein each surgery and radiation therapy have failed.

What to consider

Ependymoma is a tumor that develops from certain glial cells. These cells are present in each the brain and the spinal cord. Subsequently, it’s possible for this tumor to look anywhere in each areas.

Even though it’s considered a rare kind of cancer, it’s essential to pay attention to its possible symptoms as a way to discover it. The sooner a diagnosis is made, the more likely it’s that treatment shall be effective.

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