Brain tumor: diagnosis and management

From the first signs, care is organized in several coordinated stages. The Caen Normandy University Hospital provides diagnosis for patients who are most often referred by an emergency department or their general practitioner depending on the initial symptoms (muscle weakness, epileptic seizure, speech difficulties, etc.).

Several specialties are then involved in order to confirm and refine the diagnosis. The radiology , equipped with state-of-the-art technology, performs imaging examinations department ( multimodal MRI , nuclear medicine ( PET scan) ) . To further clarify the diagnosis, a sample of the tumor is also analyzed by the pathology and cytology department . This sample is taken during the surgical procedure, which is intended either to perform a biopsy or to directly remove the tumor. It allows the tumor to be graded and the postoperative treatment to be determined.

To decide on this treatment, doctors from different specialties (neurosurgeons, neuro-oncologists, pathologists, radiotherapists) meet weekly in multidisciplinary consultation meetings to propose and ensure the best possible treatment for patients from all over the region.

Patients are then received during an initial consultation with a neuro-oncologist or neurosurgeon who provides them with all the information related to their treatment and coordinates their care pathway in conjunction with the coordinating nurses.

In 2024, the Caen Normandy University Hospital will integrate a neuro-oncologist into its team, working closely with the neurosurgery team. This partnership will allow the hospital to manage the entire patient journey, not just the strictly surgical phase.