Cancers Likely to Spread to Different Brain Areas: Study

Research indicates that the location of brain tumors arising from other cancers in the body is not random but depends on the adaptability to regional microenvironments in the brain.

Sometimes cancer in one part of the body spreads to the brain. The incidence of such brain tumors in cancer patients is between 20%-45%, shows a new study conducted at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center.

The study findings are published in the Journal of Neurosurgery. Researchers analyzed the location of brain tumors caused by five common types of cancer – melanoma (a type of skin cancer), lung, breast, renal (kidney), and colorectal.

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Brain metastases are caused by the spread of primary tumors to the brain. Lung, breast, melanoma are the three main tumors that cause brain metastases.

‘Cancer spreading to specific parts of the brain indicate the location of tumor origin.’

They discovered that lung cancer and melanoma showed a higher likelihood to spread to the frontal and temporal lobe (which sit behind the ears) areas of the brain.

Breast, renal and colon cancers had a higher propensity to spread to the back of the brain, such as the cerebellum and brainstem.

These findings suggest that the area where cancer spreads in the brain may not be random, but rather, is dependent on where cancer originated in the body.

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Radiosurgery, also called Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS), is a procedure that uses a beam of radiation to treat cancer of the brain, spinal cord and other parts of the body using a Gamma Knife® or CyberKnife®. Radiosurgery can be carried out by a linear accelerator (LINAC), which uses CyberKnife® or TrueBeam® radiotherapy systems. Other radiotherapy technologies include Gamma Knife® and Proton therapy.

. To reach their conclusions, researchers collected data from patients treated with metastatic brain cancer using a minimally invasive, targeted form of radiosurgery called stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS).

SRS is used to treat brain tumors and other lesions. It also allows surgeons to define the coordinates of a brain tumor with precise accuracy.

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An abnormal growth of cells in the brain is called brain tumor. Most tumors arise within the brain (primary). They can be benign or cancerous.

Researchers used the SRS coordinates from brain tumors arising from skin, lung, breast, kidney, or colon cancers and created two predictive mathematical models to analyze the exact locations of tumors in the brain.

One model showed that distinct regions of the brain were susceptible to certain types of cancer; another provided the probability of each cancer spreading to certain brain regions.

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Both models resulted in the approximate same results as to which brain areas were most likely to develop cancer-specific tumors.

Researchers also believe the results of the study can be useful in the prevention and treatment of brain tumors.

Source-Medindia