A malignant brain tumor is a cancerous growth in the brain.
Symptoms
The symptoms of a brain tumor depend on where it is in the brain.
Common symptoms include:
- headaches (often worse in the morning and when coughing or straining)
- fits (seizures)
- regularly feeling sick (vomiting)
- memory problems or changes in personality
- weakness, vision problems, or speech problems that get worse
See a GP if you have symptoms of a brain tumor that don’t go away. It’s unlikely to be a tumor, but it’s best to be sure.
Treatments
Treatment for a brain tumor aims to remove as much of it as possible and try to stop it from coming back.
The main treatments are:
- surgery – a small section of the skull is removed and the tumor is cut out before the piece of the skull is fixed back in place
- radiotherapy – radiation from an external machine is used to kill cancer cells after surgery
- chemotherapy – medicine is used to kill cancer cells after surgery, or relieve symptoms if the tumor can’t be removed
- radiosurgery – lots of tiny beams of radiation are aimed at cancer to kill it if you can’t have surgery
- carmustine implants (glial wafers) – a new way of giving chemotherapy for some high-grade tumors, where implants are inserted into the brain
Medicines may also be used to relieve symptoms like headaches, seizures, and being sick (vomiting).
