The Importance of Regular Brain Scans
- Glioma patients undergo several types of brain scans throughout treatment, beginning at diagnosis and continuing through surgery and follow-up care.
- Before surgery, patients often receive specialized imaging to help map critical areas of the brain that control things like speech and motor functions.
- Additional scans may be taken during and after surgery to ensure that as much of the tumor as possible has been removed.
- After surgery, most glioma patients receive MRI scans every three months to monitor for any recurrence or changes. If scans remain stable over time, patients can come in less frequently.
Before surgery, patients often receive specialized imaging to help map critical areas of the brain that control things like speech and motor functions.
Read More Additional scans may be taken during and after surgery to ensure that as much of the tumor as possible has been removed. “Usually there’s the initial diagnosis imaging that’s done, maybe CT or MRI,” Dr. Natasha Robinette, neuroradiologist at Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit, explains. “Some patients will go for very specific imaging right before surgery, what we call presurgical imaging. That’s specifically doing things like mapping those cortical vessels and maybe fiber tracts to help the surgeon figure out their approach so that there is less deficit to the patient.” After surgery, most glioma patients receive MRI scans every three months to monitor for any recurrence or changes, Dr. Robinette explains. Over time, if the scans remain stable, this frequency can taper off to every six months or even longer. That said, glioma patients should plan on getting brain scans for the rest of their lives, even if their scans are stable.
“That three month follow-up is usually for anywhere from a year to two years,” Dr. Robinette says. “Every three months you’re going to get this imaging. As long as things are looking good, then usually we can move to a six month follow-up and then eventually to a one year follow up.”
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