Article: Brain tumors still rare; cellphone link is unproven

Senator Edward M. Kennedy's recent diagnosis with malignant glioma, a rare brain cancer that is usually rapidly fatal, is renewing questions about whether brain cancer is on the rise - and whether cellphones have anything to do with it.

The number of people with the disease is essentially holding steady, doctors say, but the diagnosis of Kennedy and other famous individuals such as attorney Johnnie Cochran, who died from a glioma in 2005, may give the impression of a rapid rise.

There has been a slight increase compared with 30 years ago, largely due to better diagnostic tools, epidemiologists say, and the fact that brain cancer risk increases with age, and Americans are growing older. The ...

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