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Rise in Brain Tumours across America
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by LotusFlower | October 14, 2008 at 01:52 pm
234 views | 25 Recommendations | 6 comments
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A story that's bubbling in the undercurrents is the rise year on year in the number of brain tumours that are being diagnosed across the United States. At the moment there is no real theory being put forward for this rise other than the fact that there is better imaging technology to help diagnosis. This said experts believe that it can't account for the rise in brain tumours being observed.
The rise has been steady over the last ten years and some have linked it to the greater use of cell phones over the same period of time but there is no scientific evidence to back this up at the moment.
Last week golfer Seve Ballesteros was diagnosed as having a brain tumour, this was in Europe and it would be interesting to see numbers for diagnosis of brain tumours there compared with the USA - is this a worldwide phenomonen?
About 215,000 brain tumors will be diagnosed in the United States this year. Of those, about 45,000 will be primary brain tumors, which originate from cells located within the brain. About 170,000 will be metastatic tumors, which develop when cancer cells from another part of the body travel through the bloodstream to the brain. Eighty percent of all brain tumors are malignant ( cancerous ).
This infusion of funds for research and new treatments occurs at a time when the incidence of brain tumors in America is rising. During the last two decades, the incidence has increased 22 percent overall and 55 percent in people over 65 years of age, according to the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results ( SEER ) Program of the National Cancer Institute.
“The technology used for imaging brain tumors has greatly improved over the past decade,” says Ronald Warnick, MD, director of the Brain Tumor Center and chairman of the Mayfield Clinic. “But this fact alone does not account for the rise in brain tumors over this time period. Of particular concern is the increased incidence of brain tumors in people over 65 years old.”
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (6)
at 15:01 on October 14th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff. Those of us in our sixties were exposed to quite a lot of radiation while children. Atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons was going on in the late 40s and throughout the 50s. Coupled with all the chemical insults since, it's not surprising that brain tumors are increasing.
at 02:55 on October 15th, 2008
The increase in brain tumours is being kept low-level news from govts at the moment - i think soon it will hit the news big time - these increases go way beyond what we'd expect just from better detection.
at 04:05 on October 15th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff.
at 14:36 on October 15th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff. Concerning. Especially the possible link with mobile (cell) phones.
at 16:14 on October 15th, 2008
LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff. Thats some scary stuff. If its a constant rise we have to look into cell phones and maybe wireless internet? I just hope they're right about the better imaging technology.
at 21:53 on October 15th, 2008
thanks Jeff - i hadn't thought about wi-fi - but at least we don't hold the computer against our head...