Health Tips

Brain Cancer:
Brain cancer is cancer in the brain. It refers to abnormal growths and brain tumors or cancer that spread to other parts of the body and could be the cause of death. However, not all growths in the brain are cancers. A benign brain tumor, cancer is relatively harmless and can be removed surgically if it is accessible. Malignant brain tumors, cancers grow and spread aggressively and overpower the healthy cells in the brain and cause disruption of the normal functions of the brain leading to the death of the cells.

The most common primary cancers in the brain are caused by normal cells mutating to becoming abnormal and begin to grow uncontrolled. Gliomas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, vestibular schwannomas and primitive neuroectodermal tumors are some of the primary cancers of the brain. These brain cancers are named after the cell from which they originate and are the common sites of brain cancer.

Metastatic brain tumors are cancerous tumors that have afflicted the brain secondarily. 25% of the tumors, that originates elsewhere in the body, metastasis to the brain, causing brain cancer. Brain cancers of one kind or other affect one out of every five thousand people in the United States.

Genetic factors, environmental factors such as smoking, radiation, toxins etc have been associated with brain cancer. Brain cancer research has largely accepted that radiation to the head as part of the treatment for worms or inherited conditions or HIV infection can increase the chances of a person developing cancer of the brain.

Not all brain tumors and cancers cause symptoms. Persons dying from brain cancer may not have a single symptom until the terminal brain cancer stage has been reached. However, general symptoms of brain cancer can be headaches, nausea, vomiting, and abnormality of gait and disruption of normal functions of the brain. Weakness and clumsiness and frequent seizures caused by pressure of the brain tumor on other parts of the brain are also manifest symptoms of brain cancer. The onset of the symptoms of brain cancer can be so gradual that the patient and his family and friends may miss it before it is too late.
The Doctor dealing with brain cancer usually works with a team. Information on brain cancer, its symptoms, effects and life expectancy after diagnosis of brain cancer are shared with the family, friends and the patient himself during the course of treatment. The Doctor and his team will conduct a series of tests to identify the stage of the brain cancer and provide the necessary treatment. CT scans, MRI, X-rays and EEGs are suggested for evaluating the stage of cancer in the brain. The treatment is then individualized for the patient depending on the size, location and the nature of the brain tumor or cancer. Stereostatic surgery and biopsy may be recommended to examine the nature of the tumor. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy will be advised in accordance with facts on the brain cancer of the patient.
New therapies for brain cancer are being evolved and developed in clinical trails. The Doctor may recommend the participation in a clinical trial if it holds out reasonable hope for the patient.
Patients diagnosed with brain cancer must take care that they follow all the instructions of their specialist and his team. People with brain cancer have the additional risk of succumbing to other medical problems. So they must follow up their treatment with regularity and schedule checkups on a long-term basis.
Brain cancer is a type of cancer that is caused by abnormal cells that grow and divide rapidly. It is a deadly disease for which no cure is readily available. Therefore hundreds and thousands of people die of this disease every year. Brain Cancer research is being conducted all over the world in an attempt to find what are the causes of brain cancer.

What causes brain cancer?
Like most cancers, the causes of brain cancer are guessed at but not proved beyond doubt. There is no definite answer that tells us why one person gets cancer and another doesn’t and what factors cause brain cancers in some and not in others. A large number of factors may cause brain cancers in contributory circumstances, but by themselves may not be harmful.

Scientists believe that mobile phones, or cell phones as they are better known, could be one of the major causes of brain cancer. Constant exposure to the waves and the radiation produced by the phone may increase the risk of developing brain cancer. Radiation in general has a very adverse affect on the brain. If one is exposed to it constantly at a very young age, then it may cause cancer in the brain. A benign tumor may turn into a malignant one and may cause brain cancer.

Hereditary diseases like Neurofibromatosis, Von-Hippel Lindau Syndrome, Sturge- Weber’s or Turcot’s Syndrome may increase the risk of brain cancer and are classified as hereditary causes of brain cancer. These diseases, which are part of a family of diseases called phacomacoses, may have lain dormant in the genes and a chance exposure to other risk factors may cause brain cancer. HIV infection, which results in the weakening of the immune system, may cause brain cancer too.

Constant exposure to certain chemicals, which are very harmful to health, may be the cause brain cancer in large numbers of individuals. Benzene and chlorinated hydrocarbons like PVC fall in this category. Cigarette smoking and consumption of alcohol, both, if taken in large quantity, cause brain cancer. The chemicals present in both are very harmful and it has been confirmed that these add great risk and may even cause brain cancer. Formaldehyde, Vinyl chloride and Acrylonitrile used in textile and drug factories may be chemical causes cause of brain cancer. Research is being conducted in this area and a few conclusive evidences have been gathered to prove the hypothesis right.

Other factors like gender, age and race are believed to contribute to the onset of brain cancer in certain individuals. It is believed that these may be risk factors associated with brain cancer causes. Males in general have a greater chance of getting brain cancer compared to females. Brain tumors are also said to be more common in white people than in any other race. Age is considered an important contributory factor in brain cancer. In fact, people above the age of seventy and children younger that eight seem to develop it more often. This is because the immune system at this stage is also weak and they have very little resistance to the factors that Cause brain cancer.
Brain Cancer Types:
Types of brain tumors can be undifferentiated, chaotic and can range from well-differentiated tumors to anaplastic tumors. They can be malignant or benign. However, in either case they can be dangerous as they can apply pressure to the surrounding brain tissues and cause untold damage to them or cause functional disabilities in the individual. In the long run the benign type of brain cancer may also turn malignant and attack the surrounding tissues.

The types of brain cancers can be classified as primary types of brain cancer or secondary types of brain cancer. Primary types of brain cancer are defined as cancers that originate in the brain cells and secondary types are those that metastasis from other types of cancers in the body into the brain.

Primary tumors are types of brain tumors that are caused due to molecular and cellular mutations and grow slowly over the years. This type of brain cancer is defined with reference to the cell from which the brain cancer originates.
The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies 126 types of brain tumors. They have classified them under nine different heads or broad types of brain cancer. 85% of the types of the brain tumors are Astrocytoma and glioblastoma multiforme(GBM) tumors.
The Astrocytoma type of brain tumor originates in the astrocytes cell and can be infilterative or pilocytic. Astrocytoma is the most common type of brain tumor in children. The astrocytes cells are located in the brainstem, cerebellum, white matter or the spinal cord.

Meningiomas are non malignant type of brain cancer that affects adults and can be cured surgically. Glioblastomas are malignant type of brain cancer that is most resistant to all type of cancer treatment.
Gliomas is a brain tumor type that originates in the glial cells of the brain. The glial cells provide structural support for the nerve cells in the brain. Brainstem glioma–originates in the medulla, pons, or midbrain.
Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common type of brain cancer in adults; originates in glial cells in the berebrum.
Oligodendroglioma is a type of brain cancer that originates in the cell type Oligodendocytes and mixed oligoastrocytoma originates in the oligodendocytes and astrocytes cells.

The type of brain cancer that originates in the Ependymocytes cell is called ependymoma. Ependymoma–is therefore present in the membrane that lines the ventricles and central canal of the spine.

Medulloblastoma–second most common type of brain cancer in children; originates in the fourth cerebral ventricle and the cerebellum; often invades the meninges
Choroid plexus papilloma is a type of brain cancer that originates in the ventricles.
Other types of primary brain cancer include the following:

* acoustic neuroma–originates in the vestibulocochlear nerve
* lymphoma–originates in lymphocytes; common in HIV/AIDS patients
* meningioma–originates in the meninges
* pineal gland tumor–rare; originates in the pineal gland
* pituitary adenoma–originates in surface cells of the pituitary gland
* schwannoma–originates in cells of the myelin sheath that covers neurons

Secondary types of brain cancer are those that originate in other parts of the body and metastases to the brain. The most common types of cancer that spread to the brain are:

* melanoma
* breast cancer
* renal cell carcinoma
* colorectal cancer