Brain Cancer

* Brain cancer is fortunately very uncommon. Only about 12/100,000 adult are affected every year

* The most common types of brain cancers/tumors are benign and meningioma type tumors

* The survival rates for brain cancer vary greatly. It can be anywhere from 4-90% depending on the tumor type

* Very young and very old people tend to be more susceptible

* Men tend to be more susceptible than women

* The treatment options vary depending on many different factors; size, shape, location, and more

* Treatment can be surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy

* Surgery = removal of the tumor

* Chemotherapy = drugs are used to shrink tumor, often done before surgery or radiation

* Radiation = use of high-energy waves to destroy cancer tumors

* Cancer is a disease in which abnormal cells divide uncontrollably and destroy body tissue.

* Brain cancer is the abnormal cell division in the human brain

* Cancer grows in ball type colonies called tumors

* A tumor is an abnormal mass of cells

* Tumors can either be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous)

* Benign tumors stay local

* Malignant tumors invade other tissues

* Frontal lobe tumors cause behavioral and emotional changes, impaired judgment, memory loss, paralysis on one side of the body, and vision loss.

* Parietal lobe tumors cause impaired speech, inability to write, lack of recognition, and spatial disorders.

* Occipital lobe tumors cause vision loss in one or both eyes.

* Temporal lobe tumors cause impaired speech and memory difficulty.

* Brainstem tumors cause behavioral and emotional changes, difficulty speaking and swallowing, drowsiness, hearing loss, muscle weakness on one side of the face, muscle weakness on one side of the body, drooping eyelid or double vision, and vomiting.

* Pituitary gland tumors cause increased secretion of hormones, a stop in menstruation, and abnormal secretion of milk