If you show signs of brain mets, or your oncologist thinks cancer has spread to the brain, you may get different diagnostic tests. Stroke: A tumor that cuts off blood flow to the brain can cause a stroke. Seizures can affect your ability to walk and communicate. Seizures: About 1 in 3 people with brain mets have seizures. Cancer inflames these tissues that cover and protect the brain and spinal cord, causing a condition called carcinomatous meningitis. Meningitis: Breast cancer cells sometimes spread to the meninges. That’s why headaches are often the first symptom in about half of people with brain mets.Ĭancerous tumors in the brain can cause many problems. Any of these factors can put pressure on brain tissue, causing swelling and pain. Symptoms of brain mets vary depending on the number of tumors, where the tumors grow, and how big the tumors get. People with aggressive subtypes of breast cancer, including HER-2 positive and triple-negative breast cancers, have a greater chance of getting brain mets. People with breast cancer, colon cancer, melanoma (skin cancer), lung cancer, and kidney cancer are most at risk for developing brain mets.īreast cancer is the most common cause of brain mets in women. More commonly, metastatic breast cancer goes to bones or other organs first, and then may eventually affect the brain. For about 17% of these women, cancer spreads only to the brain. How common are brain mets?Īpproximately 200,000 Americans with all types of cancer develop brain mets every year.īrain mets affect approximately 1 in 10 women with metastatic breast cancer. Your oncologist (cancer doctor) will use breast cancer treatments to treat these tumors - not brain tumor treatments. Instead, you have metastatic breast cancer in the brain, more commonly referred to as brain mets. When cancerous cells from a primary tumor settle in the brain, they can form new (secondary) cancer tumors.Īlthough these cancerous tumors are in the brain, you do not have brain cancer. #Racing thebrain free#(Breast cancer is the primary cancer.) Secondary cancers are the result of cancer cells breaking free from the original tumor and circulating in the blood or lymphatic system. When breast cancer spreads to the brain, you have brain metastases, or brain mets.īrain metastases, or brain mets, are a secondary form of cancer. This condition is also known as cancer metastases or metastatic breast cancer. A diagnosis of stage 4 (advanced) breast cancer means the cancer has spread outside the breast to other parts of the body.
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