The North American Brain Tumor Coalition, co-founded by the Oakland, California based National Brain Tumor Foundation, was instrumental in persuading the NIH to establish this study of adult and pediatric brain tumors. Called a Progress Review Group or PRG, the format has been utilized effectively in setting research priorities for both breast and prostate cancer. The positive outcomes seen in mortality and quality of life of breast and prostate cancer patients are a direct result of the research priority setting that a PRG can foster. The Brain Tumor PRG, which will take one year to complete, is expected to have similar results.
Brain tumors are a cancer of both the body and the soul.
The establishment of a PRG is the most hopeful and exciting event to occur in brain tumor research in many years. Over 100,000 new cases of brain tumor disease will be diagnosed in the United States this year. Survival rates for malignant brain tumors are very low, and both benign and malignant brain tumors can be life threatening. The incidence for brain tumors in the elderly is rising without any known reason. Sadly, brain tumors are now second only to leukemia in cancer deaths of children under age 19.