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Cells and Control

Investigating and treating the brain

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1

Overview

Why the brain and spinal cord are hard to investigate and treat, how CT and PET scans work and what each reveals, how scans link brain regions to functions, and the limits of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and drugs for brain tumours and spinal cord injury.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What does a CT scan show about the brain?

Key term

Describe how a PET scan is produced.

Key term

What can a PET scan reveal that a CT scan cannot?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Why is the living brain difficult to investigate directly?

    Model answer

    It is enclosed inside the skull and its tissue is extremely delicate, so it cannot easily be reached or examined.

  2. 2

    What type of radiation is used to produce a CT scan?

    Model answer

    X-rays.

  3. 3

    What does a CT scan show about the brain?

    Model answer

    A detailed image of the brain's structure, which reveals damaged regions such as a bleed or a tumour.

  4. 4

    Describe how a PET scan is produced.

    Model answer

    The patient is given a radioactive tracer, and the scanner detects where the tracer collects to show which regions are most active.

  5. 5

    What can a PET scan reveal that a CT scan cannot?

    Model answer

    How active each region of the brain is while the person is doing something, rather than only its structure.

  6. 6

    Explain how scans have allowed scientists to link regions of the brain to particular functions.

    Model answer

    Scans taken while people carry out different tasks show which region becomes active, and scans of injured patients show which region has been lost when a function fails.

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