Brain and spinal cord tumours

What are brain and spinal cord tumours?

The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system. A tumour occurs when abnormal cells grow and form a mass in the brain or spine.

Brain tumours, which are also called brain cancer, are one of the most common cancers in adolescents and young adults and the leading cause of cancer death in young adults.

Brain tumours are grouped into two main types:

• Malignant: these are cancerous tumours that can spread to other parts of the brain or spinal cord
• Benign: these are non-cancerous tumours that are slow growing and are unlikely to spread

Malignant brain tumours can be primary or secondary. Primary brain tumours start in the brain. Secondary brain tumours occur when cancer starts in another part of the body and spreads (metastasises) to the brain.

Types of brain tumours

Brain tumours are named after the type of cell in which they start.

Common types of primary brain tumours include:

• Gliomas, including astrocytomas, glioblastomas and oligodendrogliomas
• Meningiomas
• Medulloblastomas

Astrocytomas are the most common type of brain tumour in young people.

Canteen is running a clinical trial that hopes to give adolescents and young adults with medulloblastoma access to state-of-the-art tumour profiling and targeted therapies to improve treatments, reduce side effects and improve cure rates.