RISKS FACTORS OF BRAIN TUMOURS

A risk factor is anything that affects your chance of having a medical issue, such as a brain tumour. Risk factors can be environmental, such as being exposed to certain chemicals at home or work, eating or not eating certain foods, physical activity level, and/or other lifestyle choices such as tobacco and/or alcohol use. They can also be genetic, or based on the characteristics we inherit from our parents.

WHAT ARE ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FACTORS CAUSING BRAIN TUMOURS?

Many studies have been performed on a number of potential environmental risk factors. Of the many factors studied, only one—exposure to ionizing radiation—has been clearly shown to increase the risk of developing brain tumours.

It is important to note that it can be difficult to accurately measure environmental exposure, which means that results across studies can be inconsistent.

WHAT ARE THE GENETIC RISK FACTORS?

Anything that refers to the genes can be called “genetic.” However, only about 5 to 10 percent of all cancer is hereditary. In cases of hereditary brain tumours, a mutation, or change in the DNA sequence that makes up a specific gene, is passed from grandparent to parent to child.

Brain tumours can also be associated with changes in the chromosomes. Each normal cell in any human body has 23 pairs of chromosomes. The most common chromosomal changes in brain tumours occur on chromosomes 1, 10, 13, 17, 19, and 22. Changes on chromosomes 1 and 19 are most frequently found in oligodendrogliomas and changes on chromosome 22 are most frequently found in meningiomas.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER RISK FACTORS?

Other risk factors that may raise a person’s risk of developing a brain tumour are:

• Age: Brain tumours are more common in children and older adults, although people of any age can develop a brain tumour.
• Gender: In general, men are more likely than women to develop a brain tumour. However, some specific types of brain tumours, such as meningioma, are more common in women.
• Home and Work Exposures: Exposure to solvents, pesticides, oil products, rubber, or vinyl chloride may increase the risk of developing a brain tumour. However, there is not yet scientific evidence that supports this possible link.
• Exposure to Infections, Viruses, and Allergens: Infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) increases the risk of CNS lymphoma. In other research, high levels of a common virus called cytomegalovirus (CMV) have been found in brain tumour tissue. Several types of other viruses have been shown to cause brain tumours in research on animals.
• Ionizing Radiation: Previous treatment to the brain or head with ionizing radiation, including x-rays, has shown, in some cases, to be a risk factor for a brain tumour.
• Head Injury and Seizures. Serious head trauma has long been studied for its relationship to brain tumours. Some studies have shown a link between head trauma and meningioma, but not one between head trauma and glioma.
• N-nitroso Compounds. Some studies of diet and vitamin supplementation seem to indicate that dietary N-nitroso compounds may raise the risk of both childhood and adult brain tumours.

WHY KIMS?

KIMS offers the latest advances in care for adult patients with tumours of the brain and its treatments. Treatment for brain cancer is complex and treatment planning requires involvement from many subspecialists including neurosurgeons, radiation oncologists, and medical oncologists. Through our multidisciplinary approach, patients have the benefit of meeting with our team of surgical, medical, and radiation oncologists at one time and in one place to develop individualized treatment plans.

We focus on treating both common and rare brain tumours, including glioma, glioblastoma, oligodendroglioma, astrocytoma, meningioma, lymphoma, brain metasteses, and medulloblastoma.