When you or your loved one are diagnosed with brain cancer, or even just a benign brain tumor, it can be life-changing. However, many brain cancer treatment options may destroy or control the disease so you can get back to living your best life.
Explore more about some of the types of brain cancer, treatments, and methods of diagnosis.
Types of Brain Cancer and Tumors
There are over 150 known types of brain tumors that scientists have identified. However, most fall into these four categories.
Meningioma
Meningiomas are a type of tumor that almost exclusively appears on the meninges—the membranes that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord. This is the most common type of primary brain tumor.
About 80 percent of meningiomas are benign. They tend to grow slowly.
In many cases, your doctor may decide to simply keep the tumor under observation or perform surgery to remove it. However, since each case is unique, your doctor will discuss their specific recommendations with you.
Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma is one of the most common types of malignant brain tumors. These tumors start within the glial cells, which surround the neurons in your brain and keep them in place.
Glioblastomas are known for being particularly aggressive and fast-growing. Because it’s difficult to treat, doctors and scientists are using clinical trials to find new effective treatments for glioblastoma.
Astrocytoma
Similar to glioblastoma, astrocytoma can develop in the brain or the spinal cord from star-shaped astrocytes, which help with brain function. However, unlike glioblastomas, astrocytomas can be either benign or malignant.
Different types of astrocytomas can affect different age groups. Benign astrocytomas are more likely to occur in children and teens, but malignant types are more common in adults of all ages.
Metastatic Brain Tumors
When cancerous tumors appear in your brain after spreading from other parts of your body, doctors call them metastatic brain tumors. Most metastatic brain tumors come from lung cancer, melanoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other types of cancer that affect the organs. They can appear on different parts of your brain, depending on the type of primary cancer you have—this is because different parts of the brain control different bodily functions.
If you’re receiving treatment for another type of cancer, your doctor will likely monitor you for other symptoms associated with brain tumors. This is more likely if they suspect your cancer is likely to spread to the brain.
Symptoms of Brain Cancer in Adults
Multiple different symptoms may signal a brain tumor. However, these symptoms aren’t exclusive to brain tumors and can be associated with any number of issues with different levels of severity.
Common symptoms of brain cancer in adults can include:
- Seizures
- Headaches
- Difficulty thinking or speaking
- Behavioral changes
- Paralysis or weakness on one part or side of the body
- Loss of balance or coordination
- Hearing loss
- Double vision or vision changes
- Memory loss
- Confusion
Brain Cancer Treatment Options
Brain Cancer Surgery
Surgery is one of the most common treatments for brain tumors and brain cancer, and it’s often the first type of treatment people with brain cancer receive. In some cases, it might even be the only necessary treatment.
There are multiple types of surgery to remove brain tumors, depending on their size, location, and type, including removing the tumor altogether or even simply taking a biopsy. Ask your healthcare team, including your neurosurgeon, about the type of surgery they recommend, recovery instructions, and what you can expect from the surgery.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy for brain cancer uses medications that train your immune system so it knows how to recognize and kill cancerous cells.
The treatment works by allowing or blocking certain proteins in your body from interacting with T cells. This helps the T cells recognize when to trigger an immune response and attack the cancerous brain cells. In turn, this shrinks the tumor.
Only certain types of brain cancers may respond to immunotherapy, and studies have shown that it may not be right for every type of brain tumor.
Chemotherapy for Brain Cancer
Your healthcare team may use chemotherapy to treat your brain cancer, depending on the type and stage you have.
If your oncologist thinks chemotherapy for brain cancer is the best course of treatment for you, they may inject the medications through your veins or directly into the fluid in your brain and spine. However, they may also give you the medications as an oral pill, or as a dissolvable wafer they can place on the tumor through surgery.
A single session of IV-based chemotherapy may take place over several hours as part of a multi-week cycle. Depending on the treatment regimen your doctor recommends for your brain cancer, you might receive one or more rounds during the treatment cycle.
Targeted Therapy
Targeted drug therapy uses medication that targets the biomarkers from cancer cells to destroy them or slow their growth. This causes less harm to your cells than standard chemotherapy. Most commonly, targeted therapy is administered orally at home with a prescription filled through a specialty pharmacy.
Doctors and researchers have been using targeted therapy more often for brain cancer. While you may receive it alongside other treatments like surgery or radiotherapy, the specific type of targeted therapy you receive depends on the type of brain cancer you have.
Radiation Therapy for Brain Cancer
Radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, uses radioactive energy to damage brain tumor cells and control their growth. It most often targets clusters of cells in a single part of the brain, but some cancers respond to whole-brain radiation therapy.
Some people who receive radiation therapy for brain cancer receive it in a single day, or your radiation oncologist may recommend a multiple-day course of radiation therapy. However, your healthcare team will likely want to schedule follow-up appointments to monitor how the tumor responds and detect any new disease early.
Our Brain Cancer Center in Michigan
At The Cancer & Hematology Centers, we treat every patient’s brain cancer or brain tumor as a unique, individual case. Because there are so many different types of brain tumors, we offer multiple types of brain cancer treatments, along with clinical trials and cutting-edge procedures to help you achieve remission and live a longer, happier life.
Learn About Brain Cancer Treatment Options
Our team of brain cancer specialists and oncologists is here to help you navigate your diagnosis and treatment. To learn more about your brain cancer treatment options, call 800-411-7999 today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What Is the Brain Cancer Survival Rate Without Treatment?
Survival rates for brain cancer can vary a lot depending on the type of tumor, where it’s located, if it’s benign or malignant, and if it has spread to other areas of the body. Here are a few examples of how much the prognoses can vary:
- Meningioma: Even among patients over the age of 55, meningioma has a five-year relative survival rate of 74 percent. This number is even higher in younger age groups.
- Low-grade astrocytoma: People with low-grade astrocytoma between the ages of 20–44 have a survival rate of 73 percent, according to the American Cancer Society. However, this number decreases to 46 percent for 45–54-year-olds and decreases even further with age.
- Anaplastic astrocytoma: For patients under 44 years old, the survival rate is 58 percent. However, as with other types of astrocytoma, the survival rate decreases with age, with people over 55 experiencing survival rates of 15 percent.
- Glioblastoma: As an aggressive, fast-growing cancer, glioblastoma typically presents five-year relative survival rates in the single digits—including just 6 percent for anyone over the age of 55. However, clinical trials are underway to find ways to slow the growth of these tumors.
It’s important to remember that these statistics are just that—statistics. They don’t determine what will happen to a single person with any type of brain tumor. Even more, clinical trials are working to improve these numbers every single day.
How Is Brain Cancer Diagnosed?
In most cases, to determine if you have brain cancer or another type of brain tumor, your doctor will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). You might also receive a CT scan, which captures images of your brain in cross-sections. Or, depending on your situation, your team may recommend a PET scan to detect tumors.
Depending on the results of these imaging tests, you may also undergo a biopsy, lumbar puncture, or other physical procedures so a pathologist can perform lab tests and determine the type of tumor you have.
What Can Cause Brain Cancer?
A lot of things can potentially cause brain cancer, including:
- Sex: Those assigned male at birth are more likely than those assigned female to develop most types of brain tumors.
- Age: Although brain tumors can develop at any age, they are more common in children and senior adults.
- Family history: Although scientists are still researching the role genetics can play in whether someone develops a brain tumor, they have identified “clusters” of brain tumors within some families.
- Radiation exposure: Repeat exposure to ionizing radiation through X-rays or past radiotherapy treatment can increase the likelihood of developing brain tumors. This also includes exposure at work in the nuclear power industry and other industries where low-dose radiation is common.
This is not an exhaustive list. It’s also important to remember that just because some of these statistical likelihoods may apply to you, that doesn’t mean they’re the sole cause of your diagnosis.