What Are the Brain Cancer Types?

Brain cancer is a cancer type that can have serious impact on the normal brain functions of the patient. In this article, we’ll be discussing about the brain cancer types, primary brain cancer and secondary brain cancer.

Primary brain cancers:

A malignant brain tumor originating from our brain is referred to as primary brain cancer. This type of brain cancer occurs less frequently compared to secondary brain cancers. A primary brain cancer can begin from different parts of our brain. Primary tumors of the brain are mostly treated using radiotherapy and chemotherapy; surgery is done only if the tumor is located in an area from where it can be removed safely.

As mentioned earlier, primary brain cancers can begin from different tissues of the brain. A lymphoma begins from the lymphocytes; the pineal gland tumors originate from the patient’s pineal gland; a meningioma starts from the meninges; pituitary adenoma originates from out pituitary gland’s surface cells; schwannoma is the brain cancer types originating from myelin sheath of axon of neurons; acoustic neuroma begins from our vestibulocochlear nerves; glioblastoma multiforme, a cancer type beginning from glial cells of cerebrum. The other brain cancer types affect more than one part of brain at a time. Astrocytomas affect the spine, brain stem, white matter and cerebellum. Brain stem gliomas can occur in more than one part of our brain stem for instance midbrain, pons and medulla. Choroid plexus papillomas affect different ventricles of our brain. The ependymomas occur in our spine’s central canal and within ventricle membranes.

Secondary brain cancers:

This brain cancer type occurs due to metastases of some other cancer type. Secondary brain cancers occur when a portion of original cancerous tumor moves along our bloodstream through lymphatic system for invading our brain, where cancerous cells fabricate another tumor. Diagnosis revealing occurrence of multiple tumors in our brain generally vouches for a secondary brain cancer.  Common cancer types metastasizing to our brain are: breast cancer, colon cancer, bowel cancer, lung cancer, skin cancer and kidney cancer.

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