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Types, symptoms, and treatment of a brain tumor
Medically reviewed by Seunggu Han, M.D. — By Adam Rowden on September 19, 2019
Types
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Risk factors
Treatment
Outlook
A brain tumor is a mass or growth of abnormal cells in the brain or spinal cord. Many brain tumors are able to disrupt the function of the brain. Others, however, are less harmful.

Brain tumors are either malignant (harmful) or benign (nonharmful). By definition, malignant tumors are more aggressive than benign tumors.

In benign tumors, the mass of abnormal cells does not contain cancer cells. Benign brain tumors grow slowly and tend not spread from the original growth site. They are also more common than malignant tumors.

In fact, according to the American Brain Tumor Association (ABTA), around two-thirds of all new brain tumors are benign.

Malignant brain tumors contain cancer cells and tend not to have clear borders. These can grow rapidly and spread to other parts of the brain, which makes them more dangerous.

The American Cancer Society (ACS) group the statistics for brain tumors with those for tumors of the spinal cord. They estimate that healthcare professionals will diagnose up to 23,820Trusted Source malignant primary brain and spinal cord tumors in 2019.

In this article, we look at both main categories of brain tumor, their symptoms, and how to treat them.