What Is A Brain Tumor?
Question: Is a brain tumor always cancer?
Answer: No. Some tumors found in the brain are benign and do not spread to other parts of the body. However, a significant portion of brain tumors commonly encountered in clinical practice are metastatic tumors that have spread to the brain from another organ. Therefore, the term “brain tumor” includes many different diseases, both benign and malignant.
“Brain metastases are approximately 3–4 times more common than primary (brain-origin) tumors.”
Question: Why is surgery often central in brain tumors?
Answer: The brain is located within a closed bony structure (the skull). Tumors can create life-threatening risk not only because of their biological behavior but also because of the pressure they exert on brain tissue. For this reason, surgery is often considered as a first step to:
- Reduce pressure on brain tissue
- Establish a definitive diagnosis
- Plan additional treatments (medications/radiation) appropriately