Central Nervous System Tumors

metastatic

Which type of tumors are more common in the brain? (primary or metastatic)

half

Up to ____ of metastatic brain tumors are from lung cancer

Supratentorial

brain tumors located in the lobes

Infratentorial

Tumors located in the cerebellum or brainstem

Intramedullary

Tumor begins in the cells inside the spinal cord

Extramedullary

Tumor begins in the cells outside the spinal cord

Intradural

Tumors grow in the membrane surrounding the spinal cord

Extradural

Tumors grow outside the membrane surrounding the spinal cord

Brain

Center of thought, feeling, memory, speech, vision, hearing, movement, and much more

• Protected by the skull

Spinal Cord

Carry messages between the brain and the rest of the body. These messages tell our muscles how to move, transmit information gathered by our senses, and help coordinate the functions of our internal organs.

ependymal cells

What type of cells produces and secrete craniospinal fluid?

choroid plexuses

Where is cerebrospinal fluid produced and secreted? (location, not the cells that produce it)

Blood Brain Barrier

structure within the brain with the purpose of protecting the brain from potentially toxic chemical substances that pass.

• Can make it hard for chemo to access the brain

Frontal

Which lobe controls executive functions like concentration, thinking, problem solving, and judgement; motivation, emotions, muscle strength, and behavior?

Parietal

Which lobe regulates sensory processing, language comprehension, and expression, spatial awareness, and opposite-side body sensations?

Temporal

Which lobe regulates pain, hunger, stress response, short-term memory, emotions, and language comprehension?

Occipital

Which lobe control site and processing information from eyes, such as recognizing images?

Brainstem

Which part of the brain controls heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and swallowing and digestion?

Cerebellum

What part of the brain controls speech, balance and coordination of movement of the body, arms and legs?

• Coordinates voluntary movement

• Regulates tone of muscles

• Receives sensory input from the spinal cord & vestibular organ

• Motor impulses from the cerebral cortex

lateral ventricles

Which ventricles are located below the corpus callosum and extends from front to back?

• Connects with the third ventricle via the interventricular foramen (small oval)

Third ventricle

Connected to the fourth ventricle via the cerebral aqueduct

Fourth ventricle

Three small openings allow communication and CSF to pass into the subarachnoid space.

• lateral aperture (2)

• median aperture

Midbrain

What part of the brainstem is the visual and auditory reflex center?

Pons

Which part of the brainstem is where numerous nerve bundles connect the brain to the spinal cord?

Medulla Oblongata

Which part of the brainstem is the cardiac, vasomotor, and respiratory center?

L1 - L2

Where does the cauda equina terminate?

no

The CNS has ___ lymphatic drainage?

second

CNS tumors are the ___ most common cancers in children.

not

Most brain tumors are ____ associated with any known risk.

Astrocytes

Star-shaped, large, help keep the nerve cells healthy

Astrocytoma

• Can be malignant or benign

• Spread widely throughout the brain and blend with the normal tissue, which can make them very hard to remove with surgery

• Sometimes they spread along the cerebrospinal fluid pathways

  • Very rare for them to spread outside of the brain or spinal cord

Brain stem glioma

What type of astrocytoma is described as usually high grade and spreads widely through the brain stem?

• Rare in adults

Pineal astrocytic tumor

Which astrocytoma forms in tissue around the pineal gland?

Pilocytic astrocytoma (grade 1)

Which astrocytoma grows slowly in the brain or spinal cord, rarely spreads into nearby tissues, and may be in the form of a cyst? What’s the grade?

Diffuse astrocytoma (grade 2)

Which astrocytoma grows slowly but often spreads into nearby tissues? What’s it’s grade?

Anaplastic astrocytoma (grade 3)

Which astrocytoma grows quickly and spreads into nearby tissues? What’s its grade?

Glioblastoma (grade 4)

Which astrocytoma grows and spreads very quickly and the tumor cells look very different from normal cells? What’s its grade?

low-grade diffuse astrocytoma

What’s the other name for diffuse astrocytoma?

glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)

What is the other name for glioblastoma?

Oligodendrocytes

Small, forms the myelin sheath and keeps the nerve cells healthy

Oligodendrogliomas (grade 2)

• Tends to grow slowly

• Often infiltrates nearby brain tissue and can’t be removed completely by surgery

• Sometimes spread along the CSF pathways but rarely outside the brain or spinal cord

• Become more aggressive over time

• Tumor cells look something like normal cells

What is CNS tumor is this and its grade?

Anaplastic oligodendroglioma (grade 3)

Which cancer of the oligodendrocytes grows quickly and spreads into nearby tissues and the tumor cells look different from normal cells? What’s the grade?

Oligoastrocytoma (grade 2)

Which mixed glioma tends to grow slowly and the tumor cells look something like normal cells? What is the grade?

Anaplastic oligoastrocytoma (grade 3)

Which mixed glioma grows quickly and spreads into nearby tissues, tumor cells look different from normal cells, and has a worse prognosis? What is the grade?