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Brain tumor are the concern of almost every patient with a headache. In actuality, thye are quite rare but the high-profile death of Senator Edward Kennedy has made more patients aware of the possibility.

While there are many different types of brain tumor, there are two broad classes, primary and metastatic . Primary brain tumors are tumors that originate in the brain tissue whereas metastatic tumors are brain tumors that have spread from cancer in another part of the body, such as lung cancer or kidney cancer. The prognosis of primary brain tumors depends upon the cell type and whether it is malignant. Overall, the 1-year survival rate (that is, the percentage of patients alive after one year from the time of diagnosis) for malignant brain tumors is 50% and the 5-year survival is 25%. For metastatic brain tumors, it depends upon the source. Metastases from testicular cancer and Hodgkins Disease are sometimes curable whereas the majority of patients with a metastatic tumor from lung cancer are dead within a year.