Brain & Spine Tumour Surgery

Symptoms include persistent headaches (worse in the morning), new-onset seizures, weakness or numbness in limbs, vision changes, memory problems, speech difficulty, and personality changes. Any new neurological symptom warrants urgent brain MRI.

Brain surgery carries risks, but modern techniques (neuronavigation, intraoperative monitoring, awake craniotomy) have significantly improved safety. The risk of significant neurological deficit after brain tumour surgery is less than 5% in experienced hands at a dedicated neurosurgical centre.

Awake craniotomy is a technique where the patient is kept awake during the tumour resection to allow real-time testing of speech and motor function. This enables maximum safe resection of tumours in or near eloquent (functional) brain areas while minimising neurological deficits.

Benign brain tumours (meningioma, acoustic neuroma, pituitary adenoma) grow slowly and do not spread to other parts of the body — but can still cause symptoms by compressing brain structures. Malignant tumours (glioblastoma, brain metastases) are aggressive and require combined surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.

For glioblastoma (GBM Grade IV), surgery followed by concurrent chemoradiation (Stupp protocol) gives a median survival of 14–16 months. However, some patients live significantly longer, especially younger patients with favourable molecular markers (IDH mutation, MGMT methylation). Clinical trials offer additional options.