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Article: Brain Cancer: More Common Than Thought Statistics Often Overlook the Cancers That Spread From Elsewhere
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- April 7, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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The specter of cancer in the brain, the disease that killed jazz
drummer Buddy Rich last week and caused former CIA director William
Casey to give up his post, holds a special horror for most people.
And the chances of having a brain tumor are much greater than
official figures suggest.
There is a subtle but important distinction between cancer in the
brain and cancer of the brain. Most malignant growths in the brain
do not originate there but come from other organs through the
invasive process known as metastasis.
Yet most brain cancer deaths come from what doctors call primary
tumors, those that start within the skull and run their course there.
Oddly, primary brain cancers rarely ...