brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

is an abnormal growth of cells within the brain or inside the skull, and can be cancerous (

malignant Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...

) or non-cancerous (

benign Malignancy () is the tendency of a medical condition to become progressively worse. Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A ''malignant'' tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous ''benign'' tumor in that a malignancy is not s ...

). Just over half of all primary brain tumors are malignant; the rest are benign, though they may still be life-threatening. In the United States in 2000, survivors of benign primary brain tumors outnumbered those who had cancerous primary brain tumors by approximately 4:1. Metastatic brain cancer is over six times more common than primary brain cancer, as it occurs in about 10–30% of all people with cancer. This is a list of notable people who have had a primary or

metastatic Metastasis is a pathogenic agent's spread from an initial or primary site to a different or secondary site within the host's body; the term is typically used when referring to metastasis by a cancerous tumor. The newly pathological sites, then, ...

brain tumor (either

) at some time in their lives, as confirmed by public information. Tumor type and survival duration are listed where the information is known. Blank spaces in these columns appear where precise information has not been released to the public. Medicine does not designate most long-term survivors as cured. The

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

estimated 22,070 new cases of primary brain cancer and 12,920 deaths due to the illness in the United States in 2009. The age-adjusted incidence rate is 6.4 per 100,000 per year, and the death rate is 4.3 per 100,000 per year. The lifetime risk of developing brain cancer for someone born today is 0.60%. Only around a third of those diagnosed with brain cancer survive for five years after diagnosis. These high overall mortality rates are a result of the prevalence of aggressive types, such as

glioblastoma multiforme Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is one of the most aggressive types of cancer that begin within the brain. Initially, signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nonspecific. They may include headaches, personality cha ...

. Nearly 14% of new brain tumor diagnoses occur in persons under 20 years of age.

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