World Brain Tumour Day 2024: Who is at high risk and how it can be cured

Brain cancers have been linked to ionizing radiation exposure, whether from environmental or medicinal sources. (Image: Canva)

World Brain Tumour Day 2024: Brain tumours are a major global health concern that affect people of all ages. These irregular cell growths in the brain might be malignant (cancerous), which poses a greater risk to health, or benign (non-cancerous). For the purposes of both prevention and therapy, it is essential to comprehend who is more susceptible to brain tumour development as well as the possibility of their cure.

Who is more vulnerable to brain tumours?

Age and gender: Any age can develop a brain tumour, but some age groups are more vulnerable than others. Children and elderly people, for example, are more vulnerable, says Dr Akash Mishra, Sr consultant - Brain & Spine Surgeon, Metro hospital- Noida. The most common form of solid tumour in children is a paediatric brain tumour, while it also occurs more frequently in adults over 65, says the expert. Gender also matters; although some specific types of brain tumours, like meningiomas, are more common in women, overall, men are more likely than women to get brain tumours.

Genetic factors: There is a strong genetic component to the risk of brain tumour development. People who have a family history of brain tumours or genetic abnormalities such as Turcot syndrome, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, neurofibromatosis, are more susceptible, says Dr Mishra. These genetic predispositions can influence the type of tumour and cause cancers to develop earlier in life.

Environmental and lifestyle factors: Brain cancers have been linked to ionising radiation exposure, whether from environmental or medicinal sources. Long-term exposure to specific chemicals, including those used in the rubber and oil refining sectors, can further raise risk. Smoking and eating poorly are examples of lifestyle variables that can raise one's risk of developing cancer in general, including brain tumours.

Can brain tumours be cured?

Treatment options: The kind, location, size, and general health of the patient are among the variables that affect the likelihood of curing a brain tumour. Typically, a combination of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and surgery is used for treatment. Removal by surgery is often beneficial for benign tumours. However, because of their rapid growth and tendency to invade nearby brain tissue, malignant tumours are more difficult to cure.

Advancements in medical technology: Patients with brain tumours now have a better prognosis thanks to recent technological developments in medicine. Targeted treatments and stereotactic radiosurgery are two increasingly successful techniques. Clinical experiments in immunotherapy, which uses the body's immune system to combat cancer, have yielded positive results.

Because of age, gender, heredity, and environmental variables, some groups are more susceptible to brain tumours than others, which poses a serious medical problem. Surgery frequently serves as the only way to treat benign tumours; however, malignant tumours necessitate a more complex strategy. The prognosis for patients suffering from this illness is getting better because to ongoing research and technology developments, which also increase survival rates, concludes Dr Mishra.