People once healthy may be hit with a variety of symptoms including headaches, change in memory or speech as well as possible weakness and altered gait. These neurologic changes are not specific to primary brain tumors and therefore a thorough evaluation should be carried out by one's physician. Gadolinium is a contrast agent which helps define structures with high resolution. If an abnormality is indeed seen and is suspected to be a high grade brain tumor, then a biopsy or surgical intervention can be undertaken. Any intervention within the brain can have potential adverse effects.
Needle biopsies are usually well tolerated and reveal the diagnosis.
Certain brain tumors are best resected while others located in more sensitive areas of the brain may be best just biopsied. It should be noted, however, that not all brain tumors need biopsy for diagnosis and in certain situations, biopsy may be detrimental. For benign tumors such as meningiomas and acoustic neuromas, the diagnosis is often easily made by review of CT and MRI scans. Standard therapy for brain tumors such as glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma remains external beam radiation therapy. This is given daily to relatively large areas of the brain and in retrospective analysis has shown benefit in improving the length and quality of life.