1. Look at My Body
Start at your doctor's office. Your doctor will ask questions to asses your physical and family history and your brain symptoms. Your doctor performs tests such as eye movement, reaction and reflex tests as well as hearing tests using something with sound waves, such as a ticking watch or tuning fork. Your doctor also performs reflex tests using the rubber hammer and many balancing and coordination tests, such as heel-to-toe walking, balance with your feet together and eyes closed and touching your finger to your nose with eyes closed as fast as you can. Your doctor will do smell tests and touch tests with pricks and soft touches. Your doctor will look at your facial features such as your smiling and frowning, tongue movement and gag reflex. Your doctor will ask you questions about current events, a problem-solving question and a memory test, such as what you did for Christmas last year.
2. Scan My Brain
Scans are done in place of x-rays to show tumors behind bone density. There are different types of scans, and you may have more than one type preformed. The three most common types are CT or CAT scans, MRI scans and PET scans. CT scans are done after you have had an injection of contract dye, and then you lay inside a tube structure. The x-rays penetrate your brain and feed to a computer that shows where your brain tumor lies. Your MRI does not use x-rays. They surround your head with radio energy. One interval causes the atoms in your brain to go in one direction, and then another interval causes the atoms to go in another direction. When the atoms settle to their normal position, the atoms give off signals that the computer picks up, and it reads the difference between healthy tissue and a brain tumor. A PET scan works when you inject a radioactive atom paired with a glucose atom. Brain tumors consume glucose at a higher rate than normal tissue, so the PET scan can determine where all the glucose goes when looking at where all the radioactive atoms are in your brain.
3. Take My Spinal Fluid
Lumbar punctures examine your spinal fluid for tumor cells, an infection, protein or blood.
4. Get a Tissue Sample
Your doctor will perform a biopsy to get a sample of your brain tumor tissue. The laboratory can determine what type of brain tumor exists based on what type of cells or antibodies are present.
5. The Verdict
All of these help determine your brain tumor diagnosis. Your doctor will weigh all the tests together and determine a treatment based on the type of tumor you have.
