Brain Cancer essays

Brain Cancer essays The body normally forms new cells only when they are needed to replace old or damaged ones. If something happens to disturb this controlled process, abnormal or excessive cells are produced. When this occurs a tumor is developed. This is known as cancer. When a tumor is developed on the brain, it is called a brain tumor or brain cancer. Brain tumors can be benign or malignant (benign being not cancerous and malignant being cancerous). Both types can be deadly when dealing with the brain. Benign brain tumors consist of very slow growing cells. They have distinct borders and rarely spread to other locations. When viewed under a microscope, the cells of a benign tumor have an almost normal appearance. Even though these tumors sound harmless they can be life-threatening when located in such a vital area. Since the skull is unable to expand when the tumor grows it puts pressure on the brain. This results in damaged brain tissues and if left untreated a person could die. A malignant tumor is a tumor that could potentially invade and destroy important tissues and cells. They can also spread to other parts of the body (metastasize). Brain tumors can initially start in the brain. They can also spread to other parts of the body from the brain but this rarely happens. Some tumors may be worse than others. Tumor staging is used to determine the extent of cancer. The stage indicates if the cancer has spread and how far. The stages are listed below: T = Primary tumor size/extent T0: Primary tumor not present T1, T2, T3, T4 The higher the number, the larger the size/extent of the tumor. N = Regional lymph node involvement N0: No lymph node involvement N1, N2, N3 The higher the number, the more lymph node involvement. M = Distant metastasis M0: no metastasis M1: Metastasis present The cause of brain cancer is unknown. It is likely they are caused by many factors. Some of these factors are genetic damage, inheritance, electromagnetic fie...