Overview

What are Metastatic Brain Tumors?

A brain tumor is a mass of abnormal cells in your brain. The tumor may be primary (starting in the brain) or, the tumor may be metastatic (cancer that started in another place in your body and spread to your brain).

Metastatic (Secondary) Brain Tumors

A metastatic brain tumor, or secondary brain tumor, refers to a cancer that starts in another part of the body and then spreads (or metastasizes) to the brain. This is the most common type of brain cancer. Lung, breast, skin and kidney cancers spread to the brain most often.

Metastatic tumors can also occur in the spine or next to the spine. This can cause injury to the spinal cord.