An estimated 700,000 people in the United States are living with a primary brain tumor today, and approximately 90,000 more will be diagnosed in 2022.
While brain tumors can be diagnosed in children and young adults, the average age of those diagnosed with primary brain tumors is 61 years of age. At first, having a cancer that either starts in the brain or spreads to the brain can be a very troubling thought. Just like other cancers, however, Mission Hope Cancer Center has physicians that specialize in the treatment of these conditions.
Seventy percent of brain tumors are considered benign or slow-growing. This category includes slow-growing masses that start in the lining of the brain called meningiomas.
Many of these are found accidentally when a scan of the head is obtained for another reason. If a meningioma is small and away from the front or center of the brain, they may be able to be closely watched by Mission Hope doctors. More aggressive tumors include low-grade gliomas, which are abnormalities of the support cells within the brain. These are still relatively slow-growing, but have the potential to cause significant neurologic symptoms and require surgery to slow their progress.
If aggressive features are found inside the tissue removed by the neurosurgeon, follow up radiation and/or chemotherapy may be needed even for low-grade gliomas.
One of the more commonly discussed primary brain tumors that many people have heard of are high-grade gliomas, also called glioblastoma multiforme (GBMs). This is the tumor type that Senator John McCain, Beau Biden, and Senator Ted Kennedy were all diagnosed with during their battles with cancer.
While GBMs are generally not felt to be curable, there are good treatments that slow them down and can often keep them from causing symptoms for sometimes several years.
A second category of brain tumors includes cancers that spread from other parts of the body to the brain, which are called brain metastases (or secondary brain tumors).
Because cancer is a frequent condition, brain metastases are much more common than primary brain tumors. This means that if someone tells you that a friend or relative has a “brain tumor”, they likely mean that they have a cancer growth inside the brain that started in another part of the body.
The most common primary cancers that spread to the brain are lung cancer, breast cancer, melanoma of the skin, kidney cancers, and colorectal cancers.
Although most patients diagnosed with cancer will not develop spread of their disease to the brain, any patient who has been diagnosed with one of these types of cancer who has frequent or recurring headaches should tell their doctor about their symptoms to make sure that something serious is not going on.
One of the exciting developments in this area of medicine is that researchers are discovering that many of these tumors have special receptors or gene mutations that can be targeted by systemic therapies. While we still use neurosurgery and radiation therapy when needed, being able to give a patient medicine that helps both cancer in the brain and other parts of the body at the same time is a significant step forward.
When radiation therapy is needed, Mission Hope has the latest form of conventional radiation equipment called volumetric arc therapy (VMAT) to treat the areas inside the brain while sparing other important structures. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with a tumor in the brain, please reach out to your community’s cancer center, Mission Hope. We are here to help!
HAVE A QUESTION? This weekly column produced by Marian Regional Medical Center, Cancer Program invites you to submit your questions to “Your Cancer Answers” at the following email address: MHCC@commonspirit.org
