Media Centre

Contact our Media Team on pressoffice@thebraintumourcharity.org or 07990 828385. We can comment on brain tumour research and patient care news. We can set up interviews with specialists, patients and spokespeople.

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Stats and facts about brain tumours

• Around 8,600 primary brain tumours are registered in the UK each year¹. It is widely accepted that these figures are an under-estimate of the actual numbers² and research by brain tumour charities suggests the true number could be as high as 16,000³.
• Secondary tumours in the brain are not recorded in the cancer registries, but research suggests that up to 32,000 people may develop secondary cancer in the brain in the UK each year⁴.
• Malignant primary brain tumours take more years off the average person’s life than any other cancer⁵. They are the most significant cause of cancer death amongst men under 45 and women under 35, and approximately 400 children are diagnosed with a primary brain tumour each year⁶.
• Low grade tumours can become malignant and even so called ‘benign’ tumours can cause serious permanent harm or death.

Notes for editors

• Brain Tumour UK is a registered charity which was set up in 1997.
• Our work focuses on three key areas: providing support; funding research; and raising awareness.
• We are members of the Brain Tumour Consortium, a coalition of brain tumour organisations which works together to campaign for improved brain tumour policy and services.
• In 2010 we opened the Brain Tumour UK Neuro-Oncology Research Centre at the University of Wolverhampton.
• In 2012 we announced a £1.5m, 5 year research partnership with the Children's Brain Tumour Research Centre at the University of Nottingham.
• Our Facebook group has over 4,500 members sharing their knowledge and experience of brain tumours, and we have more than 2,500 followers on Twitter. We continue to expand our support services and ways to participate through new groups and media technology.
• On 1 April 2012, we joined forces with the Joseph Foote Trust to create a new, larger Brain Tumour UK.

References

1. This figure includes benign, low grade and malignant brain tumours in the official cancer registries. Sources: Cancer Statistics registrations: Registrations of cancer diagnosed in 2007, Office for National Statistics, England. Series MB1 no.38. 2010, National Statistics: London; Cancer Registrations in Wales 2007, Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit, 2010; Cancer of the Brain and CNS: Scotland: trends in incidence 1985-2007, ISD Scotland, 2010, Information and Statistics Division, NHS Scotland; Cancer Incidence and Mortality, Northern Ireland Cancer Registry, 2010.
2. NICE reports that ‘almost half of intracranial tumours are not recorded by cancer registries’. Improving Outcomes for People with Brain and Other CNS Tumours: The Manual. Guidance on Cancer Services, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, 2006.
3. Register my tumour, recognise me, Brain Tumour UK, March 2009.
4. Register my tumour, op. cit. In many cases the secondary brain tumour, rather than the original cancer, may be the cause of death. The brain is now a major battleground against secondary cancer.
5. Burnet, N., et al., Years of life lost (YLL) from cancer is an important measure of population burden and should be considered when allocating research funds. British Journal of Cancer, 2005. 92: p. 241-245.
6. The median time from symptom onset to diagnosis of a brain tumour in children in the UK is 3.3 months, whereas the best currently published results from Poland and USA are less than 5 weeks. Sources: Wilne SC, J. Kennedy, C. Jenkins, A.Grout, J.Mackie, S.Koller, K. Grundy, R. Walker, D. Progression from first symptom to diagnosis in childhood brain tumours: a multicentre study (Abstract). Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2007;92 (Supp 1):A69; Perek D, Drogosiewicz M, Dembowska-Baginska B, Perek-Polnik M, I F. Diagnostic problems in children with primary brain tumours treated in Children’s Memorial Health Institute. Pediatria Polska 2005;80(1):29-36; Pollock BH, Krischer JP, Vietti TJ. Interval between symptom onset and diagnosis of pediatric solid tumors. Journal of Pediatrics. 1991 Nov;119 (5):725-32.