Do you know how metastasis forms in the brain? Do you know what symptoms can lead to brain metastasis? Do you know if metastasis in the brain can cause death? In this article, you will find answers to these questions and many more. We have Dr. Sandeep Nayak who is one of the best oncologist in Bangalore. He will explain everything that you should know about metastasis. Along with him, we also have Dr. Gurneet Sawhney who is one of the best neurosurgeon in Mumbai. He will help us to understand the symptoms of single or multiple metastasis.
Table of Contents
How do the cells of cancer located in another part of the body reach the brain?
Cancer is an uncontrolled proliferation of cells that have mutated and become cells different than the original ones. This mutation and this change can occur in any organ of the body. And some of them, when they harbor cancer, can cause metastasis in the brain. To do this the cancer cells of the original organ have to enter the blood, through the wall of a blood vessel, and travel to the brain. On that trip, they have a problem: the brain is an important organ for the body, and therefore has an additional mechanism that protects it which is called the blood-brain barrier. It is a set of structures, mechanical and defensive, that make it difficult to access the brain and spinal cord for any foreign element. That is why it is more difficult for metastasis to appear in the brain than in other organs, such as the lungs or liver. Once this bloodbrain barrier is overcome, the cancer cells that originate in another organ of the body will begin to grow, forming groups of millimeters in size, that will grow to centimeters.
What consequences can metastasis have on brain function?
When metastasis gets very big there is a problem. In the brain, the neurons that live there and the cancerous cells that are growing very fast do not fit altogether. That is why these growing cancer cells begin to push neurons. The first part of the push causes the neurons, who lived in calm and quietness, to go crazy. The way to communicate between neurons is through electrical impulses in the ordered form of neural networks. When pushed, these neurons will begin to release sparks without any order, total chaos. It is like a computer keyboard: if we start to press a key a lot, for example, the “A” key, the screen will fill with letters “a”, which will compose an unreadable and illegible message. But the cancer cells do not stop growing. They push the neurons so much they will end up killing them so that the functions performed by these neurons will not be carried out. These are deficit neurological symptoms.
If metastasis is just one, what symptoms can it produce?
If only one metastasis appears in the brain, the symptoms that the patient will suffer will depend on the location of this metastasis. Depending on where the cancer cell group is, the symptoms may be:
- If the metastasis is in the front of the brain, where neurons that control our behavior and our capacity for judgment and problem-solving live, at first we may become extroverted and impulsive, with inappropriate behavior. Then we will be having more and more lethargy, and our reasoning will get worse and worse, as our neurons die.
- If the metastasis is located in the middle part of the brain, in its upper part where most of the neurons that control our movements and our sensitivity are, we will begin to have uncontrolled tics and tremors, besides feeling strange things, as if someone touched us the skin when there’s no-one around, or as if our skin burned. Later we will lose the ability to move, first hindering our fine movements and progressively having paralysis of areas of the body that will become insensitive.
- If the metastasis is located in the middle part of the brain, in its lower portion where the specialized neurons in hearing and in the functions of language and memory are, we will begin to hear things that others do not hear, and have a strange way of speaking, changing letters, with a speech that nobody understands, to gradually lose memory, speech. and hearing.
- If the metastasis is in the back of the brain, where the neurons destined for the vision and the organ that is in charge of the balance (the cerebellum) are, we can at first have sensations that we see strange things, like lights and colors, and then lose vision. Our balance will start to go crazy, at first with a feeling of vertigo and then losing the ability to stand because we constantly fall.
If the metastasis is multiple, what symptoms can they produce?
Metastasis in the brain can be multiple because many cells from original cancer have entered it and have stayed to live in different places. In addition to the symptoms due to the site of each of these metastasis, being many metastasis will also have 2 major general consequences for the person.
- The first, irritating many neurons, they start to give electrical flashes throughout the brain. This generalized irritation can produce an epileptic crisis: the person falls to the ground and begins to suffer convulsions.
- The second is what is called intracranial hypertension syndrome. When there is a lot of metastasis (or very few, but very large) inside the brain, the tension of the liquid inside it that is the cerebrospinal fluid, which has the mechanical function of a shock absorber will increase. This elevated tension will produce severe headaches. The person will begin to vomit abruptly and will begin to walk as if he was drunk. When this happens means that things are starting to get very complicated inside the skull.
Can metastases in the brain lead to death?
If there is a lot of tumor inside the skull, in addition to the syndrome of intracranial hypertension that we have commented on, the consequence can be much worse. The skull, which is the set of bones that encloses the brain to protect it, has only a large outlet to the outside: the hole through which the spinal cord exits the cranial cavity. When the brain metastasis begins to push all the neurons of the brain, the brain, as it can’t go away by any other way, starts to emerge through that hole. It is a problem, because when certain essential brain structures go through the hole, they will cease to function, and the instantaneous death of the person will occur.