Palliative Care Health Channel

Definition

A metastatic brain tumor is brain cancer that has spread from another part of the body.

Alternative Names

Brain tumor - metastatic (secondary); Cancer - brain tumor (metastatic)

Causes, incidence, and risk factors

Many tumor or cancer types can spread to the brain, the most common being lung cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, certain sarcomas, testicular and germ cell tumors, and a number of others. Some types of cancers only spread to the brain infrequently, such as colon cancer, or very rarely, such as prostate cancer.

Brain tumors can directly destroy brain cells, or they may indirectly damage cells by producing inflammation, compressing other parts of the brain as the tumor grows, inducing brain swelling, and causing increased pressure within the skull.

Metastatic brain tumors are classified depending on the exact site of the tumor within the brain, type of tissue involved, original location of the tumor, and other factors. Infrequently, a tumor can spread to the brain, yet the original site or location of the tumor is unknown. This is called cancer of unknown primary (CUP) origin.

Metastatic brain tumors occur in about one-fourth of all cancers that metastasize (spread through the body). They are much more common than primary brain tumors. They occur in approximately 10-30% of adult cancers.

Symptoms

• Headache -- recent, persistent, and a new type for the person
• Vomiting -- with or without nausea
• Personality changes
• Emotional instability, rapid emotional changes
• Memory loss, impaired judgment, calculating deficiencies
• Seizures -- new for the person
• Vision changes -- double vision, decreased vision
• Changes in sensation of a body area
• Weakness of a body area
• Speech difficulties
• Decreased coordination, clumsiness, falls
• Fever (sometimes)
• Lethargy
• General ill feeling
• Pupils of eyes are a different size

Note: The specific symptoms vary. The symptoms commonly seen with most types of metastatic brain tumor are those caused by increased pressure in the brain.

Signs and tests

An examination reveals neurologic changes that are specific to the location of the tumor. Signs of increased pressure within the skull are also common. Some tumors may not show symptoms until they are very large.