The singer Sheryl Crow, the actresses Elizabeth Taylor, Mary Tyler Moore, Kate Walsh and Maria Menounos are some celebrities diagnosed with the same type of tumor in the brain: meningioma. One of the most frequent among adults and that affects more to women.
Like those celebrities, Karina Careaga, an accountant from Mexico City, was also diagnosed with a meningioma, about the size of an orange. Her case was successfully treated in one of the oldest and most prestigious hospitals in the country: Mexico´s Juarez Hospital.
According to its origin, tumors in the brain are classified as primary or secondary. The difference is that the primaries start in cells of the brain itself, while the secondary ones are the product of cancer cells that invaded the brain through the bloodstream from another part of the body (a process called metastasis). As its name suggests, meningiomas are tumors that originate in the meninges, three layers that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord.
The tumor of Karina Careaga was so large that it occupied a quarter of the brain, which caused this organ to be compressed towards the back of the skull. Despite being compressed, thanks to the elastic properties of the brain, vital functions were not yet affected, however the dimensions of the tumor put her live at risk.
During the presentation of the case at a press conference, specialists in neurosurgery at the HJM (by its initials in Spanish) explained that meningiomas are slow-growing tumors that depend on multiple factors, which is why they cannot establish with certainty how long the tumor began to grow.
However, Karina herself estimated that for five years had symptoms such as headache, mood swings, weight gain, concentration and work performance problems; although the strongest manifestations occurred 18 months before the diagnosis and surgery, and included tremor in the left hand, memory loss, sphincter control and finally a seizure, which caused her to seek medical attention and finally, was referred to the HJM.
The studies by image done to Karina are impressive. Where the frontal part of the brain should be, there is a huge whitish mass that covers a quarter of the inside of her skull.
Dr. Arturo Ayala, Archpriest of the HJM Neurosurgery Service, who led the surgical intervention, explained that the biggest challenge was to remove the tumor completely without damaging or compromising other parts of the brain or the arteries that irrigate it. A work in which about 10 specialists participated and lasted approximately seven hours. Barely 96 hours after the successful surgery, Karina Careaga returned home.
Less than a year after the intervention, Karina resumed her life. Currently working on his own, exercising his profession.
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