Brain tumor risk factors

Brain tumor Microchapters

Patient Information

Overview

Classification

Adult brain tumors

Glioblastoma multiforme
Oligodendroglioma
Meningioma
Hemangioblastoma
Pituitary adenoma
Schwannoma
Primary CNS lymphoma
Childhood brain tumors

Pilocytic astrocytoma
Medulloblastoma
Ependymoma
Craniopharyngioma
Pinealoma
Metastasis

Lung cancer
Breast cancer
Melanoma
Gastrointestinal tract cancer
Renal cell carcinoma
Osteoblastoma
Head and neck cancer
Neuroblastoma
Lymphoma
Prostate cancer

Causes

Differentiating Brain Tumor from other Diseases

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Sujit Routray, M.D. [2]

## Overview[edit | edit source]

Brain tumors are associated with a number of predisposing risk factors such as radiation, inherited conditions like neurofibromatosis; von Hippel-Lindau syndrome; Li-Fraumeni syndrome; Turcot syndrome, viruses such as Ebstein-Barr virus, chemicals such as formaldehyde; vinyl chloride; acrylnitrile and genetic factors.

## Risk Factors[edit | edit source]

There are many possible risk factors that could play a role.

* Radiation therapy to the brain, used to treat brain cancers, increases the risk for brain tumors up to 20 or 30 years afterwards.
* Lymphomas that begin in the brain in people with a weakened immune system are sometimes linked to the Epstein-Barr virus.
* Exposure to some chemicals. These chemicals are formaldehyde used by pathologists and embalmers. Vinyl chloride used in the manufacturing of plastics and acrylonitrile used in the manufacturing of textile and plastics
* A family history of brain cancer slightly increases the chance of developing brain cancer.
* Genetic - The most common chromosomal changes in brain tumors occur on chromosomes 1, 10, 13, 17, 19, and 22. Changes on chromosomes 1 and 19 are most frequently found in oligodendroglioma and changes on chromosome 22 are most frequently found in meningioma.[1]
* The familial tumor syndromes and related chromosomal abnormalities that are associated with brain neoplasms include the following:
* Neurofibromatosis type I (17q11)
* Neurofibromatosis type II (22q12)
* von Hippel-Lindau disease (3p25-26)
* Tuberous sclerosis (9q34, 16p13)
* Li-Fraumeni syndrome (17p13)
* Turcot syndrome type 1 (3p21, 7p22)
* Turcot syndrome type 2 (5q21)
* Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (9q22.3)

There are certain factors that have not been proven to be risk factors:

* Exposure to radiation at work or to power lines
* Head injuries
* Smoking
* Hormone replacement therapy
* Usage of cell phones, cordless phones, and wireless devices.

## References[edit | edit source]

1. ↑ National Library of Medicine.http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/cancer.html

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