Brain cancer survival rate

Dear Ask The Doctor: How long does a 48 year old woman diagnosed with brain cancer usually live? And can it be cured?

There are several kinds of brain cancer and there are a lot of factors to be considered to predict survival rate. The most common kind of brain cancer is astrocytoma. In general, those with Grade 1 astrocytoma can survive for > 10 years, this is after the tumor is removed. The worst grade, grade 4, patients will usually survive for 8-10 months. Treatment is a case-to-case basis and may involve surgery (removal of the tumor), chemotherapy and radiotherapy. I hope this helps and I wish you well always.