Primary and secondary brain tumours

Primary brain tumours Back to top

Primary brain tumours are tumours that start in the brain and have not spread there from somewhere else in the body.

Benign brain tumours

These are tumours that remain in the part of the brain in which they started and don't spread into and destroy other areas of the brain. They do not spread to other parts of the body. If a benign tumour can be removed successfully it should not cause any further problems.

However, sometimes it's difficult to remove the tumour because of its position within the brain, or because the surrounding brain tissue could be damaged by surgery. Some benign tumours will regrow slowly and, if this happens, treatment with radiotherapy |or further surgery |may be needed.

Malignant primary brain tumours

These are most likely to cause problems by spreading into the normal brain tissue which surrounds them and causing pressure and damage to the surrounding areas of the brain. These tumours rarely spread outside the brain to other parts of the body.

Secondary brain tumours Back to top

A secondary brain tumour| is a tumour in the brain that has occurred because cancer cells from a cancer in another part of the body have spread to the brain.

Your doctor will be able to tell you if your brain tumour is a primary or secondary tumour.