Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors

Diagnosis

Diagnosing malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors can be done in many ways, including:

• Neurological examination: which helps the doctor have a better understanding of your symptoms and plan for diagnosis.
• Imaging tests: to help your doctor determine the size of the tumor and if it has spread to any other parts of the body including a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance neurography, Computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET).
• Biopsy: a process where your specialist removes a sample of tissue for specialized testing in a laboratory before or during surgery. Your doctor will use the testing results to predict the progression of the disease and choose the best treatment.

Treatment

Common treatments for malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors include:

Surgery

Where the surgeon aims to remove the entire or part of the tumor together with a certain amount of the margin of surrounding non-cancerous tissue. Surgery poses a varying risk of nerve damage and disability, depending on the location and size of the malignant tumor. If the tumors occurring in the arms and legs, it may be necessary to have limb amputation. Doing radiation before surgery to shrink a tumor can increase the success rate of removing the entire tumor in some cases.

Radiation therapy

Which uses high-energy beams, such as X-rays and protons, to shrink a tumor by killing its cancer cells before surgery. This will help to increase the success of the surgery. Radiation therapy is also useful in killing remaining cancer cells after surgery.

Chemotherapy

Which helps control your symptoms and slow the cancer’s growth using drugs to kill cancer cells. This may be recommended to patients whose cancer has already spread to other parts of the body.

Rehabilitation

Which is a postoperative care where physical therapists and occupational therapists help a patient recover lost function and mobility due to nerve damage or limb amputation.