http://www.cellphonelies.com Brain Cancer Overview Cancers of the brain are abnormal growths of cells in the brain.
• Although such growths are popularly called brain tumors, not all brain tumors are cancer. Cancer is a term reserved for malignant tumors. Malignant tumors grow and spread aggressively, overpowering healthy cells by taking their space, blood, and nutrients. (Like all cells of the body, tumor cells need blood and nutrients to survive.) Tumors that do not spread aggressively are called benign. In general, a benign tumor is less serious than a malignant tumor. But a benign tumor can still cause many problems in the brain.
Primary tumorsThe brain is made up of many different types of cells.
• Some brain cancers occur when one type of cell transforms from its normal characteristics. Once transformed, the cells grow and multiply in abnormal ways. As these abnormal cells grow, they become a mass of cells, or tumor. Brain tumors that result from this transformation and abnormal growth of brain cells are called primary brain tumors because they originate in the brain. The most common primary brain tumors are gliomas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, vestibular schwannomas, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors (medulloblastomas). The term glioma includes astrocytomas, oligodendrogliomas, ependymomas, and choroid plexus papillomas. Most of these primary tumors are named after the part of the brain or the type of brain cell from which they arise.
Metastatic brain tumors
Metastatic brain tumors are made of cancerous cells from a tumor elsewhere in the body. The cells spread to the brain from another tumor in a process called metastasis. About 25% of tumors elsewhere in the body metastasize to the brain.In the United States, brain tumors affect about one of every 5,000 people. http://www.emfnews.org