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Brain Tumor Facts

  • Each year approximately 190,000 people in the United States and 10,000 people in Canada will be diagnosed with a primary or metastatic brain tumor.
     
    Breakdown:
     
    • An estimated 43,800 new cases of primary malignant and non-malignant tumors***
       
    • An estimated 150,000 cases are brain metastases (this is an approximation as the number of metastatic brain tumors is estimated to be 20% - 40% of all cancers).
       
  • Brain tumors are the leading cause of SOLID TUMOR death in children under age 20 now surpassing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and are the third leading cause of cancer death in young adults ages 20-39.*
     
  • Brain tumor patients, including those with certain "benign" brain tumors, have poorer survival rates than breast cancer patients.
     
  • Metastatic brain tumors (cancer that spreads from other parts of the body to the brain) occur at some point in 10 to 15% of persons with cancer and are the most common type of brain tumor.
     
  • The incidence of brain tumors has been increasing as cancer patients live longer.**
     
  • In the United States, the overall incidence of all primary brain tumors is more than 14 per 100,000 people.***
     
  • There are over 120 different types of brain tumors, making effective treatment very complicated.
     
  • Because brain tumors are located at the control center for thought, emotion and movement, their effects on an individual's physical and cognitive abilities can be devastating.
     
  • At present, brain tumors are treated by surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, used either individually or in combination.
     
  • Only 31 percent of males and 30 percent of females survive five years following the diagnosis of a primary or metastatic brain tumor.****
     
  • Brain tumors in children are different from those in adults and are often treated differently. Although as many as 69 percent of children with brain tumors will survive, they are often left with long-term side effects.
     
  • Enhancing the quality of life of people with brain tumors requires access to quality specialty care, clinical trials, follow-up care and rehabilitative services.
     
  • Improving the outlook for adults and children with brain tumors requires research into the causes of and better treatments of brain tumors.
     
  • Complete and accurate data on all primary brain tumors are needed to provide the foundation for research leading to improved diagnosis and treatment and to investigations of its causes.
     
  • The National Cancer Institute and the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke are working together to implement the brain tumor research priorities set by the research, clinical and advocacy community, as summarized in the Brain Tumor Progress Review Group Report.
     
  • Symptoms of a brain tumor can include headaches (headaches that wake you up in the morning), seizures in a person who does not have a history of seizures, cognitive or personality changes, eye weakness, nausea or vomiting, speech disturbances, or memory loss. While these are the most common symptoms of a brain tumor, they can also indicate other medical problems.

* CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. January/February 1999. Vol. 49, No. 1, p.23

** Brain Tumors: A Comprehensive Text, edited by Robert Morantz and John Walsh. pp.553. Marcel Dekker, Inc. 1994.

***Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States, 1997 Annual Report

**** Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States, 1996 Annual Report