Brain Cancer

A cancer diagnosis can be frightening, but especially so when there's a tumor in the brain. While some types of brain cancer or cancer in the brain are less aggressive than others, all have the potential to disrupt a person's thoughts, memories, senses, personality, language abilities, and body control. And brain cancer can be life threatening, particularly if left untreated.

Like any other cancer, brain cancer or cancer in the brain gets its start when cells start dividing abnormally and uncontrollably, forming growths known as tumors. But not all tumors are cancerous. Some are benign, meaning that they are caused by overgrowth of normal cells.

Benign tumors tend to grow slowly and don't spread, or metastasize, in the same way that malignant tumors do. Still, benign tumors in the brain or spinal cord can pose a threat to health because they can compress and destroy adjacent vital tissue or increase pressure in the skull.

Cancerous tumors in the brain typically don't spread to distant areas of the body, but they can invade other areas of the brain and the spinal cord.

Actually, about 80% of malignant tumors in the brain don't originate there. Instead, they originate and metastasize from primary cancers elsewhere in the body. The cells in these tumors, known as secondary brain tumors, resemble cells from the original cancers, not brain cells. This article focuses on primary brain tumors, cancers that originate in brain tissue, brain cancer or cancer in the brain.

The Primary brain tumors are classified according to the type of brain cells they develop from, the appearance of individual cells under the microscope, their location in the brain, or a combination of these factors. More than half of adult brain tumors are gliomas, which mean they arise in the tissue in the brain known as glial tissue. Examples include astrocytomas, which start in brain cells called astrocytes, and glioblastomas, which are particularly aggressive forms of astrocytomas.

In terms of successful treatment, more important than the name of the tumor is its GRADE, the term used to describe a tumor's aggressiveness or how likely it is to grow. Grade 1 tumors tend to look more like normal cells and grow slowly and rarely spread, giving patients an excellent chance at long-term survival. Grade 2 tumors also grow relatively slowly, but they can creep into nearby brain tissue. These tumors can come back if removed, sometimes as a higher-grade tumor.

Grade 3 tumors are much like grade 2, but they grow slightly more quickly and are more likely to recur. Grade 4 tumors are the most dangerous: the cancer cells reproduce rapidly and, if left unchecked, will quickly invade other parts of the brain or spinal cord. Very rarely, grade 4 tumors can spread beyond the nervous system to other parts of the body.

Cause of Brain Cancer

Scientists don't completely understand why brain cells turn cancerous, but some factors can make the disease more likely. Radiation to the head, given as a form of treatment for brain tumors, can increase the risk of brain cancers.

Exposure to vinyl chloride (an odorless gas used in the manufacturing of plastics), petroleum products, and certain other chemicals have been linked to an increased risk. Research is still in progress to check if certain viruses trigger the disease. The disease rarely strikes more than one member of a family, although rare cases of certain types of brain cancers do run in families.

Contrary to popular belief, there is still no clear evidence at this point that cellular phones, power lines, or aspartame can cause brain cancer.

Brain cancer can arise at any age, but most patients are either younger than 12 or older than 40. Slightly more than one-fourth of all brain tumors are primary. The remaining is secondary (metastatic). It's not known what causes primary brain tumors. It's possible that heredity, environmental factors, viruses or other factors play a role in their development.

Some common types of primary tumors which are named after the type of brain cells from which they originate include acoustic neuromas (schwannomas), astrocytomas, medulloblastomas, meningiomas and oligodendrogliomas.

Secondary (metastatic) brain tumors are tumors that result from brain cancer that starts elsewhere in the body and then spreads (metastasizes) to the brain. Cancers of the lung and breast are most likely to spread to the brain. Sometimes, a brain tumor is the first sign of cancer that began elsewhere in the body.