What is Craniopharyngioma?

Brain tumors are a serious problem that affects certain age groups. This one in particular affects only 5-10% of childhood brain tumors.
One thing that makes this dangerous is that it is most common in patients up to 14 and to patients over 45. This tumor is a bunch of localized tumors that can become large before a diagnosis. Although this is known about them a lot is still unknown about them like how malignant they are and how quickly they can spread. One fact that needs to be known though is how is it caused, but that is also an unknown.CRANIO1_1220px-Craniopharyngioma1

Some of the symptoms is obesity, delayed development, bad vision & a swollen optic nerve. These symptoms are commonly caused by the increased pressure in the brain which is not only dangerous, but can lead to disabilities. Some disabilities are behavioral and learning.

There is a treatment to get rid of this tumor but it can lead to even more problems. In one case because of the make-up of this tumor a child had fully developed teeth around the tumor in their head. Although it is in the brain most surgeries are not successful and lead to a painful radiation treatment. Most problems are permanent even with the surgery.

As you have read this you have learned some but not all about this topic due to unknown facts about it but also through lack of research on it.

1. How can the research be improved on this?
2. How can this affect you?
3. What is the tumor made of to grow teeth?

2 thoughts on “What is Craniopharyngioma?

  1. The thing that stuck out to me was that teeth can grow around the tumor. I never knew this could happen. In an article I read it said that a lot of kids ages five to ten are affected by this type of cancer. There are a lot of symptoms due to the increase in pressure in the brain. This was very interesting to read and I thought it was good.

    http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000345.htm

  2. The thing that stuck out to me the most was the wide variety of symptoms. What is experienced, and the disabilities that come from the tumors, all has to do with where it is placed, since the brain is divided to different jobs. It’s caused by spreading mutated cells, just like other cancers. But since brain cells stop multiplying at a point in life, it’s more likely that the tumors come from other body parts. It’s a difficult disease to deal with and to treat.

    http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/brain-tumor/basics/causes/con-20028592

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