Are brain tumors and brain cancer the same thing?

Brain tumors, also known as intracranial tumors, are strictly speaking different from brain cancer from a medical perspective. However, because brain tumors occur inside the skull and are more invasive, brain tumors and brain cancer are usually treated as the same disease in clinical practice.

What is a Brain Tumor

Tumors that grow in the brain are generally called brain tumors, including primary brain tumors that originate from the brain parenchyma and secondary brain tumors that metastasize from other parts of the body to the brain. Tumors that originate from the brain, meninges, pituitary gland, cranial nerves, cerebral blood vessels, and embryonic residual tissues are called primary intracranial tumors. Malignant tumors that metastasize to the brain from other organs and tissues of the body are called secondary intracranial tumors.

Primary brain tumors can be divided into benign and malignant brain tumors. Benign brain tumors grow slowly, have a relatively intact capsule, do not infiltrate surrounding tissues, and are well differentiated; malignant brain tumors grow quickly, have no capsule, have unclear boundaries, grow in an infiltrative manner, and are poorly differentiated.

Both benign and malignant brain tumors can squeeze and push normal brain tissue, occupy space, damage the central nervous system, cause increased intracranial pressure, and seriously threaten the patient's life and health.

Brain tumor patients

Clinically, brain tumors can be seen at any age, with the incidence being higher in people aged 20-50. Juvenile and pediatric patients often present with tumors in the posterior cranial fossa and midline, mainly medulloblastoma, craniopharyngioma or ependymoma. Adult patients often present with gliomas of the cerebral hemispheres, such as astrocytomas, glioblastomas, ependymomas, etc., while some patients present with meningiomas, pituitary tumors, craniopharyngiomas, neurofibromas, cavernous hemangiomas, cholesteatomas, etc. In general, there is no obvious gender difference in the incidence of primary intracranial tumors.