What is Brain Cancer?

Over the course of a lifetime for an average person, there is less than a one percent chance that they will develop brain cancer. However, there are still about 24,000 people in the United States alone who will be diagnosed with brain or spinal cord tumors in a given year. Around the world, more than 300,000 people are diagnosed with brain cancer and similar ailments each year.

But what exactly is brain cancer? What are the signs of it and how do doctors treat it with modern medicine? Many people have no idea where to start when they receive abrain tumor diagnosis.

However, learning a little bit more about the details of brain cancer make it easier to understand your situation. It can also help you understand what might be a sign of brain cancer and what might be caused by another ailment. Read on to learn all about brain cancer, what causes it, and what can treat it!

What Is Brain Cancer?

All types of cancer have the same basic underlying mechanism. Sometimes, a cell in the body starts to focus on its own reproduction.

Healthy cells cooperate and work for the survival and health of the larger organism of the whole body. When a cell starts to focus on its own reproduction instead, it begins to use up resources from the body like blood.

As it reproduces more and more, it creates a mass of descendant cells that all try to reproduce themselves rather than helping the body to flourish. We call this phenomenon cancer. When it occurs in the brain, it is brain cancer.

However, just because a single cell starts to focus on its own reproduction does not mean that someone will develop a tumor. The body has natural defenses that tend to find these cells and destroy them.

However, if a cancer cell can reproduce for long enough, the body's defenses may not be able to get rid of it. At that point, a single cancer cell can turn into a tumor and affect the health of the whole body.

Common Brain Cancer Signs

Many symptoms of cancer resemble symptoms of other diseases as well. That goes double when it comes to brain cancer symptoms. Literally every single brain cancer symptom can also indicate a much milder health problem.

In fact, many of the symptoms we will discuss are far more likely to come from a milder illness than from cancer. Nonetheless, early stages of brain cancer do cause certain health problems that can help doctors diagnose brain cancer. The more of these symptoms someone has and the more often they display them, the higher the chance that they may have a developing brain tumor.

So what are some of the most common brain cancer symptoms? Sudden personality changes can indicate a possible brain tumor. The same applies to difficulty with thinking or speaking.

In some cases, seizures are caused by brain tumors. There are also several eye symptoms that can indicate the presence of brain cancer. If someone has vision problems or their eyes are moving in abnormal ways, that may indicate the presence of a brain tumor.

Simpler symptoms like headaches and memory lapses are sometimes also the result of cancer, although there are many more common causes.

Common Brain Cancer Causes

So how do you get brain cancer? There are many different kinds of brain cancer, so there are probably many different causes. However, we still do not know of any single cause of brain tumors.

At the same time, there are certain risk factors that are associated with higher chances of developing brain cancer. For example, most adults who develop brain tumors do so later in life. However, children also develop brain cancer more often than adolescents and younger or middle-aged adults.

In general, men tend to develop brain tumors more often than women. Exposure to pesticides, solvents, and other contaminants can also increase the chance that someone develops brain cancer.

Some people wonder, "Is brain cancer genetic?" In most cases, the answer is no. However, around 5% of brain tumors can be connected to genetic factors.

It is possible that we will discover more genetic connections to brain cancer in the future.

There are also certain kinds of cancer that occur more often in people of certain races. Glioma is a type of cancer that affects white people more often. Meningioma is a cancer that affects black people more.

Brain Cancer Treatment Options

Most brain tumors are treated with surgery. If the cancerous mass of cells can be removed, then the natural defenses of the body can often clean up whatever remains.

You can also treat brain cancer with chemotherapy and radiation therapy in some cases. Combination therapy uses both of these strategies at the same time.

Another way to fight brain cancer is by strengthening the natural defenses of the body. Immunotherapy is a treatment approach that uses biologic drugs. They give the immune system more strength to help it find and remove developing cancer cells.

Understand the Most Crucial Details About Brain Cancer

If you have ever wondered what brain cancer is, we hope this article has helped to shed some light on the subject. Of course, it is also important to remember that many of the most common symptoms of brain cancer are caused by a wide variety of other ailments.

To learn more about how you can find or provide support for people who have received a brain tumor diagnosis, reach out and get in touch with us here at any time!