What Is a Brain Tumor?

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A brain tumor is an abnormal cell development in brain tissue. Tumors can be benign (not cancerous) or malignant (cancer cells proliferate). Some are primary, meaning they start in the brain. Others are metastatic, meaning they start in another part of the body and reach the brain.

Types of Brain Tumor

There are several types of brain tumors. Some brain tumors are not cancerous (benign), and some are (malignant). Brain tumors can start in the brain (primary brain tumors), or cancer can begin in other parts of the body and then spread to the brain (secondary or metastatic brain tumors).

The speed at which a brain tumor grows can vary widely. The rate of growth and location of the brain tumor determines how it will affect the functioning of the nervous system.

Treatment of Brain Tumor

A brain tumor primarily grows a mass of abnormal cells that begins in the brain. They can be benign, non-cancerous, and malignant, containing rapidly growing cancer cells.

Some tumors are primary; they originate in the brain itself. But, on the contrary, some tumors originally appeared in one part of the body and, by metastasis, reached the mind.

The amount at which a brain tumor grows and progresses varies by type and person, and its growth rate and location will determine how it affects the nervous system.

Doctors diagnose these tumors using a neurological exam and other tests such as an MRI, CT scan, or biopsy. Treatment includes watchful waiting (monitoring without treatment until symptoms develop or change), surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and best therapy. In addition, targeted therapy uses drugs or other matters to fight specific cancer cells and minor damage to normal cells. Most people get a combination of these.

Symptoms of Brain Tumor

Symptoms occur in non-cancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant) brain tumors. Benign tumors grow slowly and may expand larger before symptoms appear.

A brain tumor causes many different symptoms, which appear suddenly or progress gradually. The first symptoms and their evolution depend on the size of cancer, its growth rate, and location. In some parts of the brain, even a small tumor has catastrophic effects. In other places, tumors grow before symptoms appear. As cancer grows, it develops and compresses, but it usually does not destroy nerve tissue, compensating for these changes. It remains why the symptoms do not appear initially.

Primary brain tumors start in the brain itself or in nearby tissues, such as the membranes that line the brain (meninges), cranial nerves, pituitary, or pineal gland.

Brain Tumors Start In The Brain

Primary brain tumors start when normal cells develop changes (mutations) in their DNA. The cell’s DNA contains the instructions that tell the cell what to do. For example, mutations tell cells to grow, divide quickly, and live when healthy cells expire. The result is a mass of irregular cells that form cancer.

In adults, primary brain tumors are much less common than secondary brain tumors, in which cancer starts elsewhere and spreads to the brain.

There are many different types of primary mind tumors. Each name after the type of cells affected. Examples include:

Gliomas These tumors start in the brain before the spinal cord and include astrocytomas, ependymomas, glioblastomas, oligoastrocytomas, and oligodendrogliomas.

Meningiomas. A meningioma is a tumor arising after the membranes surrounding the brain and the spinal cord (meninges). Most meningiomas are not cancerous.

Acoustic neuromas (schwannomas). These are caring tumors that appear in the nerves that control balance.

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