Brain Cancer

What are the treatment options for brain cancer?

The treatment options for brain cancer may include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapies and steroid therapy, alongside new and evolving treatments through clinical trials. The type of treatment you receive will depend on several different considerations, such as the type of brain cancer you have, its stage, your overall health and your treatment preferences. This page aims to give you a comprehensive overview of how brain cancer treatment works.

Surgery for brain cancer

Surgery is a common treatment option for many people with brain cancer. Surgery is performed for brain cancer patients to remove cancerous tissue and relieve or prevent symptoms from the brain tumour, such as any impact on normal functions (e.g. speech, vision, movement). For people who do not receive surgery or who require further treatment following surgery, other treatments such as radiation therapy, chemotherapy or targeted therapies may be required.

Craniotomy

A craniotomy is the most common type of surgery for brain cancer, which involves the partial or complete removal of the brain tumour by removing a piece of skull in the brain. The section of skull is then replaced with small plates and screws following the surgery.

The three approaches for craniotomy include:

Radiotherapy for brain cancer

Radiotherapy is a common treatment for brain cancer and is often given after surgery, as an alternative to surgery or alongside other treatments. There are many different radiotherapy techniques that may be suitable for your brain cancer.

External beam radiotherapy

External beam radiotherapy (EBRT) is used to treat brain cancer by delivering highly targeted radiotherapy beams directly to the tumour/s in your brain.

Types of EBRT which can be used for the treatment of brain cancer include:

• Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)

• Volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)

Image guided radiotherapy (IGRT) is used to ensure EBRT is delivered as accurately as possible to your brain cancer. This involves the use of advanced imaging equipment and computer software such as MRI, CT and x-ray.

Stereotactic radiosurgery

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a specific type of targeted radiotherapy that can be used to treat small benign or malignant (cancerous) brain tumours and tumours that can’t be treated with surgery or that have metastasised (spread to the brain from other areas of the body). Benign tumours which may be treated using SRS include meningiomas, pituitary adenomas and acoustic neuromas as well as some blood vessel conditions such as arteriovenous malformations.

SRS involves a special type of high-dose radiotherapy that targets affected areas in the brain while avoiding healthy brain tissue, and is usually delivered in one to five treatments.

At Icon Cancer Centre we use state-of-the-art technologies which can deliver SRS treatment to multiple brain tumours at the same time. This reduces the need to treat multiple tumours separately, resulting in a much shorter treatment time for patients.

Stereotactic radiotherapy

Stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) is an advanced technique used to treat malignant (cancerous) and benign tumours with well-defined edges in the brain. SRT is similar to SRS, but is usually delivered over a longer course of treatment and is more commonly used for larger lesions (tumours), especially those that are in sensitive areas of the brain.

Compared to traditional radiotherapy to the brain, which involves treating the entire brain, stereotactic radiotherapy only targets the individual tumours with high doses of radiation. This provides less radiation to healthy brain tissue, reducing the impact of side effects (e.g. loss of intellectual function, hair loss and headaches) and improving the quality of life for patients.

Chemotherapy for brain cancer

Chemotherapy uses a range of drugs to kill and slow the growth of brain cancer cells and is primarily used for faster-growing brain cancers. It may be given following surgery or in combination with radiotherapy (known as chemoradiation).

Learn more about chemotherapy and how it is delivered.

Chemotherapy treatment for brain cancer takes place over several sessions, which is known as a cycle. Your care team will walk you through how many cycles you may need for your course of treatment, with most people completing chemotherapy in a period of three to six months.

Targeted therapies for brain cancer

Targeted therapy is a less common treatment option for brain cancer which uses specialised drugs to destroy specific proteins in brain cancer cells. 

Steroid therapy for brain cancer

Steroid therapy may be used for people with brain cancer who are experiencing swelling in the brain due to the size and location of their brain tumour or as a side effect from their treatment. It can be given at any point during treatment, including before, during or after surgery and radiation therapy, to reduce this swelling and relieve any associated symptoms (such as headaches).

Treatment by grade of brain cancer

When you are diagnosed with brain cancer, your oncologist will develop your treatment plan as part of a multidisciplinary team based on the grade of your cancer.

Common treatment options for each grade of brain cancer include: