Expert Cancer Treatment in Phoenix, AZ
A cancer diagnosis is one of life’s biggest challenges, and getting diagnosed with brain cancer can feel devastating. But no matter how serious the situation, there’s always hope. At Palo Verde Cancer Specialists, we help patients all over Phoenix battle cancer every day through world-class treatments at our six state-of-the-art cancer centers. If you’ve been diagnosed with brain cancer, we can help you beat it – and educating yourself on your condition is the first step.
Common Questions About Brain Cancer
What is brain cancer?
Brain cancer refers to any cancer that forms in the brain, the command center of the body. Because the brain is responsible for controlling every other part of the body, brain cancer is one of the most serious cancerous conditions.
That said, not all brain tumors are cancerous. Brain tumors may also be benign, or noncancerous, which means they won’t grow or spread as aggressively as cancerous tumors will. However, even benign tumors present a serious risk and can prove fatal.
Do brain tumors cause seizures?
The brain is the command center of the body, responsible for interpreting sensory information and issuing commands for every other muscle and organ. Accordingly, the symptoms of brain tumors can vary greatly depending on the size of the tumor, its location in the brain, and the grade of the tumor.
Brain tumors can cause seizures, but not all brain tumors cause seizures. Even for those that cause seizures, there are many types of seizures that don’t involve the loss of consciousness and full body shaking that we tend to associate with seizures. While these full-body shaking, unconscious seizures (called generalized tonicclonic seizures) can occur, seizures caused by brain tumors can also manifest in the following ways:
- Difficulty speaking
- Involuntary facial twitching
- Involuntary tremors or shaking or a single limb
- Smelling something unpleasant that isn’t really there
What causes brain cancer?
As with many forms of cancer, the exact causes of brain tumors aren’t fully understood. Age, family history of brain cancer, exposure to some chemicals, and specific diseases like neurofibromatosis are all risk factors for brain cancer. However, the most common cause of brain cancer is metastasis – that is, most cancerous tumors in the brain form by spreading there from a cancerous tumor in a different organ, such as the liver.
How are primary and secondary brain cancer different?
Primary brain cancer refers to a tumor that originates in the brain, while a secondary tumor is one that spreads to the brain from another organ. Secondary brain cancer is much more common than primary brain cancer, accounting for roughly 80% of brain cancer cases.
What are the stages of brain cancer?
Brain cancer is different from many other cancers in that the severity of brain cancer isn’t evaluated using a staging system. Instead, cancer doctors use a grading system to evaluate the severity of brain tumors. The grade of a brain tumor determines the percentage of cells in the tumor that are cancerous, which predicts how aggressively the tumor will grow and spread. Brain tumors may have a grade of one to four (G1 – G4), with G1 being benign (noncancerous cells) and G4 being entirely cancerous (mostly cancerous cells).
Schedule a Consultation with Your Phoenix, AZ Cancer Clinic
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with brain cancer, we know how difficult that can be – but we’re here to help. As a leading cancer treatment center serving the greater Phoenix area, we strive to bring hope in the fight against cancer by providing world-class, cutting-edge cancer treatments to our patients. Don’t wait: schedule a consultation today to see how we can help you beat cancer. We can’t wait to hear from you, and we look forward to starting you on the road to recovery.
