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What It’s Like to Remove a Brain Tumor

Operating deep in the brain, whether through a microscope or an endoscope, requires intense, sustained focus in which the eyes and hands must work together seamlessly. No matter how much preparation you’ve done, until you are there, seeing the relationship between the tumor and the distorted anatomy, all bets are off. For this reason, the first move is always just to look around. You try to compare what you thought you were going to see with what you are seeing. Then you come up with a game plan—a blueprint for altering the anatomy to accomplish your goal. To remove a tumor, you begin by making a series of minute finger movements to manipulate long, thin instruments whose sharp tips gently…

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Articles of Interest

Solving the Brain Riddle: New Treatments for Brain Tumors

The Scarecrow in the “Wizard of Oz” wishfully sang that if he only had a brain, he could “unravel every riddle for any individ’le,” but the brain itself has proven to be quite a riddle for scientists trying to uncover new treatments for brain tumors. “There are many reasons for this,” Patrick Wen, MD, director of the Center for Neuro-Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, said during a session at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2024, held April 5-10. “There’s a problem with a blood-brain barrier that excludes over 90% of cancer drugs from being useful. There are issues of tumor heterogeneity and redundance of signaling pathways. We don’t have a lot of easy targets. The tumor microenvironment is immunosuppressed. When you have a slow-growing tumor … it takes a year or two to figure out if your drug did anything. And there are many other factors.”

After One Writer Finds Out She Has a Brain Tumor, She Confronts It Head On

“There is a large mass growing in your brain,” he says. His expression is pained as he points to a sizable black blob at the upper right of one scan. “I’m 80 percent sure it’s something called a meningioma, which occurs in the outer layer of the brain, the meninges, and is benign. If it is that, it’s the best kind of brain tumor to have.” You really just said that? I think. “But it’s gotten so large it’s making your brain swell, which is why you have this headache.” The one I’ve had for a few days that woke me up sobbing at 3:00 a.m.

Birth Control Pill Risks May Now Include Brain Cancer

Interestingly, Gaist found that women using progestin-only birth control showed slightly higher risk of developing gliomas. While it’s not clear why, he suspects that obesity may be playing a role. In Denmark, regulations require that doctors avoid prescribing estrogen-based contraceptives to obese women, since estrogen can increase risk of blood clots.

Birth Control Pills Have Been Linked to Brain Tumors. Here's What You Need to Know

If you're on the Pill, well...this is the kind of headline you don't really want to see. But hold tight—we talked to two experts who can help explain it all. Danish researchers found that women under the age 50 with a kind of rare brain tumor called glioma were 90 percent more likely to have used progesterone-containing (hormonal) contraceptives for five years or more, according to study leaders.

Brain Tumor Facts

There are more than 100 distinct types of primary brain tumors, each with its own spectrum of presentations, treatments, and outcomes. More than any other cancer, brain tumors can have lasting and life-altering physical, cognitive, and psychological impacts on a patient’s life. And, despite years of research, brain cancer survival rates have remained little-changed in recent years, even while survival rates for many other cancers have been significantly improved.

Brain tumor overview

A brain tumor is a mass of abnormally growing cells in the brain or skull. It can be benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Unlike other cancers, a cancer arising from brain tissue (a primary brain cancer) rarely spreads. Whether benign or malignant, all brain tumors are serious. A growing tumor eventually will compress and damage other structures in the brain.

Brain tumors are cognitive parasites – how brain cancer hijacks neural circuits and causes cognitive decline

What exactly causes cognitive decline in brain tumor patients is still unknown. In our recently published research, we found that tumors can not only remodel neural circuits, but that brain activity itself can fuel tumor growth.

Brain Tumors Caused This Neuroscientist To Lose Her Mind

In January of 2015 her doctors discovered that melanoma had metastasized into her brain. Her brain became riddled with tumors, mostly in the frontal lobe, and began to change her personality in eerily similar ways to the very diseases she has spent her life studying.

Explainer: brain tumours that affect children

Malignant brain tumours are the most common cause of cancer death in children. And the most common of these are called medulloblastoma. Although these tumours can occur in both children and adults (they account for between a fifth and a quarter of all tumours diagnosed in the brain and spinal cord), they are ten times more frequent in kids. Still, most people have not heard of medulloblastoma, most likely because it’s much rarer than cancers more typically associated with childhood, such as leukaemia. But the fact that it contributes so significantly to brain tumours that account for more deaths in children than leukaemia is a testament to medulloblastoma’s aggressiveness and to how far we need to progress to find a cure.

Groundbreaking Research Shows Ancient Egyptians Were Conducting Cancer Surgery Over 4,000 Years Ago

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How A Near-Fatal Brain Tumour Reaffirmed My Commitment To Saving The World’s Glaciers

A lifelong fascination with glaciers has taken biogeochemist Jemma Wadham to the furthest reaches of Earth. But it took a near-fatal brain tumour for her to realise just how precarious life on our planet is.

Living with a Brain Tumor

Brain tumor diagnosis is a life-altering event. There is no “right” way to feel. There will probably be days when you feel upbeat and positive and other days when you will feel that your world has caved in. Uncertainty is among the most challenging aspects of a brain tumor diagnosis. But there are things you can do to help you get through the days.

My Daughter's Brain Tumor

Miranda was lucky and unlucky all at once. Her tumor was atypical. Aggressive. Because of this, the doctors were not sure what Miranda’s prognosis would be. They said, “It’s so rare. We just don’t see this. We have to follow her.” This meant many scans, and many tears. Miranda was no longer the girl who skipped down the hall. She was afraid to change into a hospital gown, afraid to be admitted, frightened—as anyone would be—that her tumor would return. After all, this was what the doctors feared. Underneath her long brown hair, she would forever bear a scar like a question mark, curling from the top of her head down and around her ear.

Pediatric Brain Tumors

The majority of pediatric tumors are in the posterior fossa (60 percent). The most common tumors, in decreasing frequency, are: Medulloblastoma, juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma (JPA), ependymoma, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT). The other 40 percent of pediatric brain tumors are in the cerebral hemispheres of the brain. These include astrocytomas, gangliogliomas, craniopharyngiomas, supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET), germ cell tumors, dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors (DNET), oligodendrogliomas, and meningiomas

She Suffered Balance Issues for Years. Was It a Brain Tumor?

A visit to the dentist unexpectedly led to a resolution.

Sue Perkins reveals she has had a brain tumour for eight years

The Great British Bake Off host has spoken out about her non-cancerous tumour, which lies in her pituitary gland. "I'm lucky that it's benign so it's not in itself a worrying thing." She continued: "Sometimes it's big and makes me mad, and sometimes it's small and is in the background... sometimes it screws up my hormones. I have various tests now to make sure the side effects aren't too onerous."

Tom Lubbock: a memoir of living with a brain tumour

For art critic Tom Lubbock, language has been his life and his livelihood. But in 2008, he developed a lethal brain tumour and was told he would slowly lose control over speech and writing. This is his account of what happens when words slip away

What Are the Most Common Types of Brain Tumors?

The most common brain tumor among adults, metastatic tumors are classified as secondary brain tumors, which means they arise from cancer that formed elsewhere in the body and then spread to the brain. Though exact incidence rates are not known, the American Brain Tumor Association estimates between 200,000 and 300,000 metastatic brain tumors are diagnosed each year.

‘How I knew I had a brain tumor’: 4 survivors share their symptoms

Brain tumor symptoms can be subtle, like a vision change. Or they can be more urgent, like a first-time seizure.

Resources

Brain Tumor Network

Brain Tumor Network is a trusted source for reliable information about primary brain tumors for patients of all ages. Our dedicated, neuro-oncology navigators help you find answers to the difficult questions you may be asking yourself

Brain Tumors Suck

Personal images and thoughts...

Brain Tumour Research

Help us fund the fight. Together we will find a cure.

Brain Tumour Support

Brain Tumour Support is uniquely dedicated to providing support for anyone affected by any type of brain tumour, at any point from diagnosis and for as long as support is needed.

National Brain Tumor Society

National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS) unrelentingly invests in, mobilizes, and unites the brain tumor community to discover a cure, deliver effective treatments, and advocate for patients and caregivers.

Oscar’s Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity

We are involved because we have a personal connection to the work OSCAR’s delivers. Helping children and their families at every stage. Many of us knew Oscar, or have experienced something similar in our families. We are here to bring hope and light in the darkest of times.

Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation

With a mission to Care. Cure. Thrive., the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation leads the way in funding childhood brain cancer research to cure the kids, supports families affected by this disease, and advocates for policies that help patients, survivors and their loved ones.

American Brain Tumor Association

We’re dedicated to improving, extending, and saving lives.

Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada

We are a dedicated team of volunteers, patients, survivors, family members, health care professionals and staff, determined to make the journey with a brain tumour one full of hope and support. We work collaboratively to serve the needs of those Canadians affected by all types of brain tumours.

Connecticut Brain Tumor Alliance

The Connecticut Brain Tumor Alliance, Inc. (CTBTA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing hope and support to brain tumor patients and caregivers, while advancing brain tumor awareness, quality of care, and brain tumor research.

Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research & Information

The Musella Foundation for Brain Tumor Research & Information, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity devoted to empowering brain tumor patients and their families. We provide emotional and financial support, facilitate educational resources, advocate for patients' needs, and strive to raise funds for groundbreaking brain tumor research.

YaleMedicine

Brain tumors may be “primary” such that they arise from the brain itself, its covering (called the meninges), or nerves—or they can be “metastatic,” meaning a cancer arising elsewhere in the body has spread to the brain. They can also be more “benign,” or slow-growing, versus more malignant and aggressive. While some hereditary syndromes can predispose people to develop brain tumors, such as Neurofibromatosis Syndrome (NF) 1 or 2, the vast majority of brain tumors are sporadic—or occur randomly and by chance.