1.  Each year, 2200 children in the United States are found to have a brain tumour. (In Australia this number is approximately 300)

2.  Brain tumours are not common in young people. About 3 children out of every 100,000 children will have a brain tumour.

3.  Brain tumours usually happen in adults ages 35 and older.

4.  Each year about 180,000 adults are found to have a brain tumour.

5.  There are different types of brain tumours. As a matter of fact, there are over 100 types of brain tumours!

6.  When a child is found to have a brain tumour, it is most often a "medulloblastoma" or an "astrocytoma" brain tumour. These are both very specific types of brain tumours.

7.  Medulloblastomas are named after a part of the brain called the "medulla oblongata." The medulla connects the bottom of the brain to the top of the spinal cord.

8.  Astrocytomas are named after the Latin word "astro" meaning "star." The cells that make up an astrocytoma look like stars.

9. The types of brain tumours more often found in adults: "glioblastoma," "meningioma," and "oligodendroglioma."

10. Oligodendrogliomas have cells that look like fried eggs!

11. Scientists are working hard to learn what causes brain tumours and how to make them stop growing. Right now, scientists are focusing on the DNA inside tumour cells. Most brain tumours seem to have an abnormal chromosome somewhere in their DNA - how this happens is not yet known.

12. Scientists DO know that nothing you think, say, or do can cause a brain tumour. And, you cannot "catch" a brain tumour from someone else.

13. Half of the tumours that begin in the brain are "benign." Benign means "not cancer." Doctors usually treat benign tumours with an operation to remove the tumour.

14. Some brain tumours are cancer. Those tumours are called "malignant" tumours, and they can be treated. Doctors usually begin with an operation to remove the tumour. Radiation and chemotherapy are then used to help get rid of any leftover tumour. Radiation is treatment using special medical x-ray beams. Chemotherapy is treatment with drugs that kill cancer cells.

Information Courtesy of the American Brain Tumour Association