Brain Tumors Will Be Detected By Liquid Biopsy

Brain tumors are a common problem that affects many people today. Each year, over a million tumors are diagnosed worldwide. Of this, approximately 2% of the cancer-related mortality is reported. The numbers are frightening – that’s around 10,000 deaths a year.

According to the data currently available, the survival rate when brain tumors develop ranges from 3 to 27 months from the moment the cells start mutating or from the moment when cancer cells metastasize to other parts of the body and internal organs.

Brain tumors – unlike other tumors – are more than ten times more likely to spread to other vital organs of the body. As a result, many patients show little or no reaction to therapies selected by doctors.

This makes us understand the seriousness of the situation we are dealing with and the urgency with which we should find the right way to diagnose this dangerous disease: detecting brain tumors through a simple lumbar puncture.

Brain tumors detectable by liquid biopsy

A group of researchers from the Vall d’Hebron Instituto de Oncología in Barcelona (Spain) was the first to develop the idea of ​​a liquid biopsy that will help detect brain tumors quickly and accurately.

This is possible thanks to the use of spinal – spinal fluid – a substance that moisturizes and nourishes our central nervous system.

This innovative, pioneering discovery has been published in the journal Nature Communications. The comment stated that this diagnostic method would initiate changes and revolutionize the detection and treatment of brain tumors.

Thanks to this, instead of performing an invasive biopsy by inserting a needle into the gray brain tissue, a simple lumbar puncture would be enough to stop the development of brain tumors at various stages of development.

How is this possible? Well, “concentrated genetic material for brain cancer and the central nervous system is to a small extent found in the blood plasma, but in high concentration and can easily be found in the cerebrospinal fluid,” reports Joan Seoane, head of the research team and coordinator of the entire project.

Research assumptions

The described diagnostic method using liquid biopsy is well known and widely used in intestinal, breast and lung tumors. So far, however, it has not been used in the diagnosis of brain tumors.

The main reason for this is that the level of DNA of cancer cells present in people suffering from this type of disease is much lower in the blood plasma than in other cancers.

However, the team of researchers described by us assumed that because our nervous system has its own fluid circulating in our body, moisturizing the spinal cord and brain tissues, this fluid could be used for diagnostic tests.

It could reveal the presence of tumor cells with great accuracy.

The diagnostic methods currently used in medicine are very risky. These involve perforating the skull and making a puncture in an “undefined” part of the brain to find cancer cells.

Therefore, this latest discovery represents a real revolution in medicine. It may contribute to a significant reduction in mortality caused by brain tumors. It is a great step forward, both at the stage of diagnosis and treatment of the condition.

Warning signs that it’s time to see your doctor

It should be noted that brain tumors sometimes send out warning signs that alert us to their presence and that our brain may be affected. As soon as we notice them, we should see a doctor as soon as possible for the necessary examinations and tests.

Above all, it’s important to remember that brain tumors sometimes send out general, easily confused signals. Sometimes they affect the entire body – this mainly concerns symptoms caused by the tumor being pressed against the brain or spinal cord. Others are more punctual – they indicate damage to the brain or spinal cord.

Brain tumors, in most cases, are not detected before they develop symptoms. Therefore, you need to be sensitive to them and do not hesitate to consult a doctor as soon as you notice them. Some of the symptoms are:

General symptoms

• A headache that lasts a long time and won’t go away. Perhaps the most disruptive is in the morning when the person is lying horizontally.
• Unusual changes in mood and humor, or even personality. Emotional instability or indifference and insensitivity. Slow thinking, a feeling of ‘fog in the brain’, and difficulty tackling previously well-known problems.
• Symptoms of high cranial pressure (dull pain, blurred vision, impaired consciousness, etc.).

Point symptoms, depending on the tumor location

• Partial motor impairment and difficulties in performing manual activities.
• Paresis (partial or variable paralysis).
• Aphasia (difficulty using the language and pronouncing words and sentences correctly).
• Apraxia (difficulty in performing certain sequences of movements).
• Problems with determining the size or distance (narrowed field of view)

Remember that if you have these symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have a brain tumor. These are just warning signs that should encourage you to see a doctor as soon as possible.

This type of cancer is treated with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery. You cannot afford a moment of inattention. Even the slightest similarity of your symptoms to those described by us earlier should make us contact our doctor and inform him about our condition.

Our life and the peace of those around us, those we love so much, are at stake. Thanks to the early detection of brain tumors, we can count on appropriate treatment.