What is a brain tumour?

A brain tumour is a mass of abnormal cells growing in the brain. The cells can come from the brain itself or from its lining. These are called primary brain tumours. When the cells come from other places in the body they are called secondary or metastatic brain tumours) Primary brain tumours can be non-malignant (non-cancerous)or malignant (cancerous)

Size doesn’t matter… This is true. The size of a brain tumour doesn’t matter nearly so much as where it is located. A large non-malignant tumour may be easily accessible and therefore easy to remove. A pea-sized tumour that is critically placed may make treatment very difficult.

Treatment and outlook depend on the tumour type, its location within the brain, whether it has spread, and your child’s age and general health. Treatments are developing and advancing constantly, so several options may be available at different points.

Treatment for brain tumours in children is typically quite different from treatment for adult brain tumours.

The diagnosis of a brain tumour in a child is without doubt one of the most distressing things that can happen to a family. As parents you will be given a lot of information to digest and may have to make fairly rapid decisions due to the condition. Your hospital team will be there to support you, your child and whanau.

It is important that at the beginning, you take each day as it comes. Learning about brain tumours in particular will give you some sense of control over a very stressful situation but it is also important to do this when you are ready. Do it slowly, at a pace that allows you to absorb the complexity of the information. With the steady improvement in research and treatment we are also seeing an improvement in outcomes for children with brain and spinal cord tumours. We encourage every family to maintain hope to try and be positive.

Why do brain tumours form?

The causes of most childhood brain tumours are unknown. We do not know why one child may develop a tumour and another doesn’t. We do know though that no one can “catch” a brain tumour from someone else. There is also no evidence that head injuries can cause brain tumours in children.

There are some genetic syndromes that predispose families to the development of brain or spinal cord tumours, but these are relatively rare. Researchers are studying families who may have more than one member with a tumour and are also looking at the impact of certain viral infections however in most cases we do not know why.

It is important to know there is nothing that parents could have done to prevent the tumour from occurring.

For more information about brain tumours and different types go to these websites Little Brainstrust The Brain Tumour Charity UK