Types of Brain Tumors: Full List

Rankings and percentages in the table come from the American Brain Tumor Association and Duke’s Tisch Brain Tumor Center.

The main types of brain tumors fall into primary tumors that begin in the brain and metastatic tumors that spread from elsewhere, and age changes which are common. Use the situation groups below to find the right entry.

This list stays at overview level. The wider framework of brain tumor pathology explains how pathologists reach these diagnoses in more depth.

Adults: the tumors met most often

Adult overviews are led by tumors that spread into the brain and by two primary tumors that behave very differently: one aggressive, one usually slow-growing. Read these three entries as the adult core of the list.

Brain metastasis

Brain metastasis is cancer that started in another part of the body and spread to the brain, as the Ivy Brain Tumor Center describes it. The American Brain Tumor Association lists metastatic tumors as the most common type of brain tumor in adults, and Siteman Cancer Center notes that most brain tumors do not originate in the brain at all.

This entry suits readers who want to understand why “primary” and “metastatic” are the first split in any list. A metastasis is defined by its origin elsewhere, whereas a primary tumor begins in brain tissue. The limit is that the label says where the tumor came from, not how it will behave, so it is a starting category rather than a full diagnosis.

Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults, according to Duke’s Tisch Brain Tumor Center. The Ivy Brain Tumor Center calls it the most aggressive and treatment-resistant tumor of the group. It sits at the top of the astrocytoma range, which runs from grade 1 juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma to grade 4, also called glioblastoma.

Choose glioblastoma as your reference point for high-grade disease: when another tumor is described as aggressive, this is the comparison most readers need. Do not treat it as the most common tumor overall, because the American Brain Tumor Association ranks metastases first in adults. It is the most common malignant type, which is a narrower claim.

Meningioma

Almost a quarter of all brain tumors in adults are meningiomas, according to The Brain Tumour Charity. Siteman Cancer Center describes most as benign and slow-growing. The Ivy Brain Tumor Center adds that grade 1 is the most common type and is generally treated with surgery alone.

This entry suits anyone who assumes that every brain tumor is cancer. Because grade 1 is described as the most common type rather than the only one, “mostly benign” is a tendency and not a promise. Treat the grade, not the tumor name alone, as the deciding detail.

Children: tumors that lead pediatric lists

Childhood lists are not adult lists shrunk down. Metastatic tumors are about 2% of brain tumors in children, per the American Brain Tumor Association, so the leading names are tumors that begin in the brain.

Medulloblastoma

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in children and typically shows up in the cerebellum, according to Duke’s Tisch Brain Tumor Center. The Ivy Brain Tumor Center confirms that it usually occurs in children and classes it as malignant.

It suits readers sorting childhood tumors by location, since the cerebellum is the detail that separates it from the adult entries above. Its limit as a mental shortcut is that “most common malignant” does not mean most common overall; slow-growing tumors in children belong to other entries.

Pilocytic astrocytoma

Juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma is the grade 1 end of the astrocytoma range, and surgery alone is generally the treatment, per the Ivy Brain Tumor Center. Astrocytomas as a family are the most common primary tumor within the glioma group, as The Brain Tumour Charity explains. For the wider family and its microscopic appearance, see this guide to astrocytoma histology.

This entry suits readers who see the word “astrocytoma” and assume the worst. The same family includes glioblastoma at grade 4, so the grade is what tells the two apart, not the family name.

Ependymoma

Ependymomas are a type of glioma and are most commonly found in children, and The Brain Tumour Charity describes them as the third most common childhood brain tumour. They suit readers who need the next name after medulloblastoma and pilocytic astrocytoma on a childhood list.

Two practical points help when comparing childhood entries:

• Group membership: ependymoma and astrocytoma both belong to the glioma group, so shared family does not mean shared behavior.
• Frequency rank: rankings are given for childhood tumors as a whole, so do not read an adult rank into a childhood name.

When the concern is a slow-growing, non-cancerous tumor

Benign brain tumors typically grow slowly and do not spread to other body parts, as Duke’s Tisch Brain Tumor Center explains. Meningioma, covered above, is the largest member of this group; two others deserve their own entries.

Schwannoma

Schwannomas are tumors that come from nerve cells, most commonly the vestibular nerve, which can affect hearing, per the Ivy Brain Tumor Center. Acoustic neuromas, the vestibular form, are not cancerous, but Siteman Cancer Center notes they can cause hearing loss and balance problems.

This entry suits readers who need to understand why a non-cancerous tumor can still matter clinically. Its location on a nerve involved in hearing and balance, not its growth rate, is what drives the symptoms.

Pituitary tumors

Tumors in the pituitary gland are almost always benign, according to Siteman Cancer Center. They suit readers whose question is about a tumor defined by an organ rather than a brain cell type. The limit is that “almost always” leaves room for exceptions, so the individual diagnosis is what counts.

How names, grades and WHO groups work

There are more than 130 known types of brain tumour, according to The Brain Tumour Charity, which is why overview lists keep to a handful of anchor types. The WHO classification of central nervous system tumors organizes them by microscopic structure, biomarkers and grade, and it defines tumors by their molecular features, not just what the tumor looks like.

Reading a tumor name

A diagnosis name carries several layers of information. These layers help decide which entry in this list applies:

• Origin: a primary tumor begins in the brain, while a metastasis arrives from a cancer elsewhere.
• Family: astrocytomas and ependymomas both sit in the glioma group, while meningioma and schwannoma are grouped by their own tissue of origin.
• Grade: the scale from grade 1 to grade 4 is based on microscopic appearance, as the Ivy Brain Tumor Center explains.
• Molecular features: biomarkers can change the final label even when two tumors look alike under the microscope.

Benign and malignant

The Brain Tumour Charity describes grades 1 and 2 as low grade and seen as non-cancerous, and grades 3 and 4 as high grade and cancerous. That split is a useful rule of thumb for sorting this list: pilocytic astrocytoma and most meningiomas fall at the low end, while glioblastoma sits at the high end. Medulloblastoma is classed as malignant, and metastases are cancers by definition because they come from a cancer elsewhere.

The split is a guide, not a guarantee. Individual tumors can be named differently once molecular testing is added, so the final pathology report outranks any general list. Tumors outside this overview, including chordoma, are covered under chordoma pathology.

Frequently asked questions