What Causes Brain Tumors?

I understand that sometimes the best solution to a health problem is to avoid getting it in the first place. For example, it seems like if you eat right and exercise, you reduce your chances of getting a heart attack or diabetes or similarly nasty diseases.

So, I visited several brain tumor sites and searched for the answers to this question: “What causes brain tumors?”

The ABTA website writes about this as “Risk Factors” - http://www.abta.org/brain-tumor-information/risk-factors/  At the top of the list of ABTA cited risk factors is “exposure to ionizing radiation.”

Since I had no idea what “ionizing radiation” is, I googled it and got this definition from the World Health Organization: “Energy emitted from a source is generally referred to as radiation. Examples include heat or light from the sun, microwaves from an oven, X rays from an X-ray tube, and gamma rays from radioactive elements.” See http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/about/what_is_ir/en/

This, of course, what got me all hot and bothered about having dental x-rays and you can read my blog posting/rant about that possible correlation with meningioma here -http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2012/04/dental-x-rays-possible-cause-of.html - because if you’ve had as many bitewing x-rays as I’ve had, your brain is probably hot and bothered, too.

Next, I tried the National Brain Tumor Society’s website: http://www.braintumor.org/  And while I really like the NBTS, I didn’t see anything about how to avoid getting a brain tumor or reducing the risk.

So then I zipped over to the “Cancer Treatment Centers of America” website - http://www.cancercenter.com/ - and learned that “The cause of brain cancer is still largely unknown. Although there are some genetic conditions and environmental factors which may contribute to the development of brain cancer, the risk factors are much less defined for brain cancer than for other cancers in the body.”

This, to me, seems awfully awful. We have lots of brain tumors a year as more that 688,000+ people are grappling with brain tumors in the U.S., let alone all the victims in the rest of the world. http://www.braintumor.org/brain-tumor-information/brain-tumor-information/facts-about-brain-tumors-in-the-us.html

Golly, with that many cases to analyze, interrogate or otherwise manipulate, I thought we’d have a better answer to this seemingly fundamental question.

If you know the answer, or have some clues, please email me. Or, better yet, please tell a high-powered researcher who will actually make use of the information.

John

PS – This all reminds me of Clifton Leaf’s seminal book entitled “The Truth in Small Doses: Why We’re Losing the War on Cancer – and How to Win It.” You can buy it for $12.00 (U.S.) on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Small-Doses-Losing-Cancer-/dp/1476739994/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417465491&sr=8-1&keywords=clifton+leaf+the+truth+in+small+doses

Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_eraxion'>eraxion / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

“There have been very few new brain tumor therapies in the last thirty years, but there is hope.”

This is a quote from the “Legislative Agenda” of the National Brain Tumor Society: http://www.braintumor.org/advocate-for-change/legislative-agenda/

While I am a big supporter of the NBTS, I was appalled by that summary – “There have been very few new brain tumor therapies in the last thirty years.”

I feel all of us – victims, caregivers, researchers, etc. – are lost in some unknowable maze as we try to find the map that gets us out of this mess and onto some viable, walkable, believable path.

It also made me think, “What have we been doing for the past thirty years? Why aren’t we making any progress? Who’s in charge? When do they get their performance review?”

It also reminds me of Rick Page who famously wrote a book entitled Hope is Not a Strategy. And while his book is all about complex sales processes, I think it’s relevant here as “hope” is not a formula for success in any business, let alone the wretched brain tumor business.

As far as I’m concerned we need to ashcan whatever process/roadmap/strategy we’ve been using and do something different.

So if this quote disturbs you, makes you mad, gives you a rash or makes you want to run to the nearest bar and order a pitcher of boilermakers, hold on. Because Clifton Leaf has been just as mad and crazed and disturbed. Only he didn’t run to the nearest bar and get drunk*. He spent years investigating this madness and has figured out how to fix this stupid, broke "cure cancer" system. You can read about in his book entitled The Truth in Small Doses: http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Small-Doses-Losing-Cancer-/dp/1476739986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374599695&sr=1-1&keywords=clifton+leaf+the+truth+in+small+doses

If you’ve read this far, get this book, read it, and then tell others about it. 

John

*Actually, I don’t really know if he went to the nearest bar and got drunk or not. Given everything he learned and everything he’s written, I hope to buy him a drink someday.

Image credit: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/photo_14556111_a-man-lost-in-a-maze-or-labyrinth-holds-a-question-mark-sign.html'>iqoncept / 123RF Stoc

We’re losing the war with cancer (Book Review – Part I)

The graph and title say it all “New Cancer cases have risen three times faster than the U.S. population.”

That’s the focus of an important new book from Clifton Leaf entitled The Truth in Small Does: Why: We’re Losing the War on Cancer – and How to Win it - http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Small-Doses-Losing-Cancer-/dp/1476739986/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374599695&sr=1-1&keywords=clifton+leaf+the+truth+in+small+doses

Often the books I read and review are quite different.  They usually have something to do with brain issues and, inevitably, they’re sad, informative, instructive, frightful, memoir-ish, educational, mordant and/or sardonic.

The Truth in Small Doses has a dose of all of that. More importantly, though, the book puts a lie to the myth that we’re winning the war against cancer.

We’re not.

Leaf dives deeply into “Why”, “How did we get here?” and “How to fix the fight against cancer that is paralyzed by a dysfunctional cancer culture.”

Consumed with our inability to make progress in conquering cancer, he's spent years of his life researching this issue with a journalist’s investigative eye. In that quest he’s “…served as a (research) grant reviewer, and on various advisory boards and committees, not as a reporter, but rather as a participant, panelist, or member.” Impressively, his references, citations, notes, and the like start on page 311 and winds up on page 480*. Net, He’s done his homework…and then some.

As I read it, I’m on page 206, I also need to tell you that it’s a dense book. While there are a number of absorbing and well-told personal stories, there’s also a lot of science. At times I want to retake high school biology and chemistry so I can understand what he’s writing. Given the complexity of the complexity of the issues involved, it’s not surprising that it’ dense. In many ways the depth and complexity is reassuring.

In case you can't read the sources for the eye-opening graph at the top of this article, the following are listed: Cancer Statistics, A Cancer/J Clin, for years 1971 - 2012; U.S. Census Bureau. Spike in incidence in Mid-199s largely reflects a surge in new prostate cancer diagnoses after the advent of PSA screening later adjustments in methodology corrected for this apparent anomaly.

Lastly, you should know that it is my intention is to write a “Part II” review after I finish reading pages 206 through 310.

*This assumes that you’re reading the hard cover edition and aren’t reading it on your Kindle in bed while your significant other sleeps.