Those more remote areas may harbour residual cancer cells that can spark recurrence of the cancer, despite treatment with radiation and chemotherapy. While surgery may remove the bulk of a tumour, there are often areas of the brain that can't safely be reached. "We don't want to remove or harm those areas that are essential for us to function and make us the people who we are." "We have the challenge that parts of your brain are essential for function, even the essence of who we are and how we communicate and how we laugh at jokes," he says. 'The tumours still have a habit of coming back, even if you thought you got it all, because there's still a few cells left thathave been crawling deeper into the brain that have the capacity to multiply and cause the tumours toregrow.' - Dr. Peter Dirks, a senior scientist in brain tumour research at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. "It's embedded in the brain and it infiltrates into the brain in places where you just can't remove it," says neurosurgeon Dr. What makes a glioblastoma so difficult to treat is that as the tumour grows, it sends out finger-like tentacles that worm their way into surrounding brain tissue. Cancer lingo: How one person's thoughtful metaphor can be another's cliché.Gord Downie opens up about battling cancer, 'savage' memory loss.Those most affected are adults aged 45 to 75 GBMs make up only three per cent of childhood brain tumours. GBMs, as they're sometimes called, occur more often in men than in women and increase in frequency with age. He was among 1,000 Canadians diagnosed each year with glioblastoma. A woman places flowers at a makeshift memorial for Downie in Kingston, Ont.
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