What is Childhood Cerebellar Astrocytoma?
The brain controls memory and learning, senses (hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch), and emotion. It also controls other parts of the body, including muscles, organs, and blood vessels. A brain tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue contained within the skull that can be benign (without cancer cells) or malignant (contains cancer cells). Other than leukemia and lymphoma, brain tumors are the type of cancer that occurs most commonly in children. Often cancer found in the brain has started somewhere else in the body and has spread (metastasized) to the brain. This overview covers a type of tumor, cerebellar astrocytoma, that starts in the brain (primary brain tumors). Astrocytomas are tumors that develop from brain cells called astrocytes. Cerebellar astrocytomas occur in the area of the brain called the cerebellum, which is located at the back of the brain and controls balance and complex motor activities, including walking and talking. Cerebellar astrocytomas usually grow slowly an
