These tumors occur most often in children and are more common in boys than in girls. Meningiomas grow from the meninges. They are usually benign. They occur most often in women between 30 and 50 years of age. Schwannomas are benign tumors that begin in Schwann cells, which produce the myelin that protects the acoustic nerve-the nerve of hearing.
Acoustic neuromas are a type of schwannoma.
They occur mainly in adults. These tumors affect women twice as often as men. Craniopharyngiomas develop in the region of the pituitary gland near the hypothalamus. These tumors occur most often in children and adolescents. The most frequent type of germ cell tumor in the brain is the germinoma.