Cancer in specific part of the body can spread to the brain, reveals new study

Cancer has turned out to be a disease that has become the most dreaded illness known to humans. Amplifying this fear, a new US study has suggested that if a person develops cancer in one part of his/her brain, it is likely that the illness might spread to specific parts of the brain, a process called metastasis. 

Cancer spread might not be random, study says

According to ANI, the study conducted by the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of Keck Medicine of USC, stated that brain metastasis might not be random but rather based on the body areas where the illness first originated. Lead author of the study and brain and tumour neurosurgeon of Keck Medicine of USC Gabriel Zada said, “We discovered that different types of cancer are more likely to show up in specific parts of the brain once they metastasize, indicating the location of tumours follow a distinct pattern."

Zada and his team reportedly analysed brain tumours and their locations caused by five common types of cancer which were lung, breast, renal (kidney), colorectal and melanoma (skin cancer). The analysis revealed that breast, colon and renal cancers primarily spread around the rear portion of the brain, such as the brainstem and the cerebellum. Besides, lung cancer and melanoma were found to metastasise at the brain’s frontal and temporal lobes, the area behind the ears. 

Josh Neman, assistant professor of neurological surgery, physiology and neuroscience at the Keck school said that “It may be that cancer cells have the ability to adapt to regional microenvironments in the brain that allow them to colonize and progress, while other areas of the brain are inhospitable to the same cells”, reported ANI. 

The experts reportedly arrived at this conclusion after collecting data from patients with metastatic brain cancer using stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), a technology that provides coordinates of a tumour in the brain with precise accuracy. Data from nearly 970 patients with approximately 3,200 brain metastatic tumours across the five aforementioned cancers were examined between the years 1994-2015. The study that used two predictive mathematical models concluded that certain brain areas were relatively susceptible to certain types of cancer. The doctors said that early prediction of the illness using the study results will be useful in the prevention and treatment of brain tumours.

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