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Subscribe to RSSSinger Sheryl Crow recently revealed she had been diagnosed with a meningioma, a type of brain tumor that accounts for nearly 30 percent of brain tumors in the U.S. More than 90 percent of them are benign. NBC's Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports.
When news broke that singer Sheryl Crow has a benign brain tumor called a meningioma, her representative swatted away concern by saying that “half of us are walking around with [a meningioma] but you don’t really know unless you happen to have an MRI.”
Well, no.
Despite that unnamed representative’s effort to make a brain tumor sound like a pimple, meningiomas are not anywhere near so universal, and, despite the “benign” designation, can be dangerous, leading to severe disabilities, and, in rare cases, death.
“About 2 to 3 percent are malignant,” Dr. Elizabeth Claus, director of medical research at the Yale School of Public Health, a neurosurgeon at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the principal investigator for the multi-institution Meningioma Consortium, explained in an interview. “Then that is a very serious situation because there’s not much in the way of great treatments. They can metastasize, say to the lungs, and no chemotherapy will work for it.”
As the name indicates, a meningioma is a cancer of the meninges, the protective lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, often also called the dura.
Jason Merritt / Getty Images
Sheryl Crow, shown in 2011, announced she has a benign brain tumor called a meningioma.
It’s true that meningiomas are one of the most common types of brain tumors, comprising about one-third of all benign brain tumors, but meningiomas are not nearly as common as Crow’s rep would have you believe. As of 2005, approximately 138,000 Americans were known to have been diagnosed of meningioma.
However, explained Dr. Marc Mayberg, a neurosurgeon at Seattle’s Swedish Neuroscience Institute, “there may be many more, up to 10 times more patients but these people are unaware of it because the tumor is asymptomatic.”
Sheryl Crow fits perfectly into the meningioma demographic. She’s 50, and rates of meningiomas are highest in middle-aged women.
Recently, medicine, which has focused on treating very deadly brain tumors like gliomas, has realized that it’s been giving benign brain tumors short shrift, so meningiomas have been the subject of renewed scientific interest.
Radiation to the head and neck is the only well-defined cause found so far. A study released last month from UCLA identified 27 cases of meningiomas over a 10-year-period that appear to have arisen following radiation to the head. While such treatments have usually been used to attack other cancers, “in the 1940s and 1950s,” Claus said, “kids were sometimes treated with radiation for all kinds of things, even ringworm, and those kids have a ten-fold increased chance of developing a meningioma.”
A more common source of radiation may also spark meningiomas.
A study by Claus in the April issue of Cancer linked the tumors to dental x-rays. “Over a lifetime, cases were more than twice as likely as controls…to report having ever had a bitewing examination.”
Claus and her co-authors stressed that the elevated risk primarily resulted from X-ray exams “performed in the past, when radiation exposure was greater than in the current era.”
Studies of cell phone radiation have shown that use of the devices presents no increased risk of meningioma.
The fact that meningiomas are more than twice as common in women as in men, and that they have hormone receptors on their cells, may indicate that estrogen levels or progesterone exposures may also be involved with the tumors’ development. There’s a family association, too, so genetic heritage may play a role.
The danger of meningiomas usually comes from the neural structures they can affect, often by pressing on neurons as the tumors grow. “Basically it is size and symptoms,” Claus explained. “The larger it is, the more likely to cause problems. It can actually be wrapped around the eye and you can lose vision. You can lose speech, and on down the list.” Meningiomas can affect one’s sense of smell, equilibrium, and physical strength.
Meningiomas are treated, or not, depending on how fast growing they are and what structures, if any, they are affecting. About half of people diagnosed with one require no treatment. Often, Mayberg explained, the tumor simply stops growing. Nobody knows why. When treatment is required, doctors typically opt for surgical removal, or radiation therapy to shrink the tumor.
According to Mayberg, the risk of recurrence depends on a patient’s age – the longer one lives the greater chance you’ll live long enough to have a regrowth – and how much of the original tumor was removed. If any tumor remains after surgery, the risk of recurrence is more than 20 percent.
Brian Alexander (www.BrianRAlexander.com) is co-author, with Larry Young PhD., of "The Chemistry Between Us: Love Sex and the Science of Attraction," (www.TheChemistryBetweenUs.com) to be published Sept. 13.
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Who cares? Her music is so five minutes ago, and was never better than trite. More importantly, she is only a fraction as hot as she used to be. Do a story when it involves somebody relevant.
Then why did you read the story and bother to post?
Because my cat just came down with azz cancer, and I needed a good laugh to cheer me up.
Yu seem to be a "Dork".
I hope there is a special alone place for you in hell azzwipe - you don't deserve any company
You are a complete ass!!! Sheryl Crow is without a doubt one of the best singer/songwriters of her generation. Just because you can not appreciate her music does not mean it is not good music. I also feel sorry for your cat for having to deal with a caretaker like you.
As a person living with a meningioma I must say people like you are the type I try to avoid. Thanks for all your understanding!
TROLL
Your name says it all "WalkWithMeInHell".
So is she gonna die from it or not?
Her music is more than "5 minutes ago". What does that matter if it brings awareness to brain tumors??
@walkwithmeinhell. Actually I found your statements rather funny. Her music does suck and she always seems to be whining about something.
WalkWithMeInHell
"Because my cat just came down with azz cancer, and I needed a good laugh to cheer me up."
We can all figure out how you made this diagnosis.
I love that someone finally referred to Sheryl Crow as a "middle-aged woman". Maybe now she'll start getting the hint and stop trying to come across as a 25 year old.
I can give you a more accurate percentage because I have one. It is 10 % to 15 % of the population at any given time. The original one was found when I was 16. It was benign and the size of a grapefruit. I had headaches because it was crowding my brain. Luckily, it was not actually touching my brain. It was bwtween the two membranes between the skull and brain. I had no side effects after the surgery.
Now, at 52, it has recurred in my inner ear canal on the same side of my head. Symptoms were vertigo first then ringing in that ear only. It is pushing on my auditory nerve causing me to have diminished hearing. Eventually I would go deaf.
I had radiation by that new gamma radiation machine (supposed to be really precise) two weeks ago. So far, it is still ringing, but I can still hear. I've known I had it for two years. I know it was there two years before that. I decided to take radiation (which is what they are blaming for it right now) because if left unchecked it could attach itself to my brain stem. I'm sure that can't be good.
I was told it was hereditary, and this second one probably came from the original one 36 years ago. No doctor (I saw) would operate on this one because the auditory nerve (which it already touches) is right next to the nerve that controls the facial muscles on that side of your face, and they didn't want to risk cutting it.
The treatment was painless. I was back at work the next day (I took a mega dose all at once instead of spreading it out over 5 or 6 weeks).
Any of the symptoms I had (both times) could easily be attributable to other things. If the symtoms recur, see a doctor.
Guess that explains that huge f'ing growth on the side of her face.
My mother had 6 surgeries between the age of 63 when she was first diagnosed and when she died at age 69, about 4 months following her last surgery. Each surgery took a little more of her away from us.
The final two years of her life were filled with pain and misery for all of us, most especially her. She had a BA in Journalism, and a Masters Degree in English and for the last year of her life was unable to read or write, and could only speak with difficulty. It was so hard for her when she would attempt to say a simple sentence but nothing but gibberish would come out. She would weep in frustration because she know what she was trying to say; she just couldn't make the works come out right.
It's unfortunate that many people hear the phrase "benign tumor" and assume it's no big thing. So much has been spent researching malignant brain tumors, and so little on these.
So very sorry about your sister! These tumors can be deadly ~ while I am very happy that she is happy with her tumor I must say that she is way off base to suggest they are no big deal. Slow growing, benign tumors of the brain can and do prove devastating, as can anything living in the brain tissue that should not be there.
Prayers that she will be ok.
My heart goes out to Sheryl and anyone else diagnosed with any type of illness. August 17th 2010, I was diagnosed with the very same thing and had been asymptomatic with the exception of a seizure I had on August the 13th, 2010.
As I did not have a prior history of seizures, my Doctor did a CAT scan which revealed a tumor the size of a tennis ball in the right side of my brain.
I was scheduled to have a MRI on September 3rd, 2010, but instead I woke up in Presbyterian Hospital post surgery with no recollection of going there. The last memory I had was experiencing another seizure while returning home from work on August 28th, 2010, while riding the sbway and being taken to Interfaith Hospital.
In summary, I was discharged on September 10th, 2010 and was BLESSED enough to beable to walk out on my own two feet through the GRACE OF GOD, who BLESSED me with Dr. GUY MCKHAN (forgive me if spelled incorrectly) and the rest of the EXTRAORDINARY staff at PRESBYTERIAN HOSPITAL NYC and the LOVE, PRAYERS and SUPPORT of FAMILY and FRIENDS!!!!
I write this in detail because although I had this tumor which could have significantly altered life as I know it, I am BLESSED to be functioning at almost 100% normalcy(pre-surgery).
So those of you with the ignorant remarks, I have sent up a prayer for you. Those of you either going through this trial present, past, or in the future, please keep in mind as with everything in life, no two cases are the same and I am PRAYING for you. STAY STRONG!!! Sheryl, you will beat this too!!! Stay BLESSED!
Just curious Shiboof...who exactly are you talking to? So very sorry to hear about your Mom Severed. In Heaven there is no suffering.
I found out I had the same thing back in Sept. 2011. I lost almost all of last summer, my family knew something wasn't right, I wasn't eating (I lost almost 50 pounds) I would stare at the computer for long periods of time. I didn't reconeise people.. I soiled my self, I was a general mess! My daughter finally talked me into going to the hospital, and there they found the tumor. It was pressing against my brain stem. I went into the hospital the 13 of Sept. and they operated on me on the 15. I couldn't read or write afterwards. And as you can see some of it still spills my way! I have to have a MRI every 6 month, because the Dr. said it will come back... I hope Sheryl Crow has a better time of it. Cause I don't want to go thru that again!
My father had surgery to remove a meningioma 6 years ago at age 84. He came through it like a champ and is doing fine now at 90. It had gotten so big that he couldn't move his right leg, and was at risk of causing seizures before they figured out the problem. It was also causing mood/behavior problems, namely apathy and loss of appetite. The first thing he did coming out of surgery was test his leg - he was ecstatic that he could already make it move. Momma-61, I hope you have no future problems!
To "walk with me in hell" No thanks! Your post is completely off and you-not relevant. My beautiful sister was diagnosed in 1996 with this benign beast....but it is still the beast. Her life is forever changed.
So anyone who thinks this is not a big deal...as apparently Sheryl Crow is trying to sway us with ...forget that . It is not dibliltating every day, but the days it is and if it grows, it will not be any part of "good" Who is fooling whom here? My sis had to quit her job, can not drive long distances, is in a lot of pain, the kind that makes you puke every morning kind of pain some days and the cost of meds..unbelievable.
She was a the Mayo Clinic within days and was told..'.go home, we will do more damage with surgery than without" This is not simply" a road bump" in life.
She can however, tell you every the name of every nerve and muscle in her face, because they are all affected.
Sheryl....go out and do your homework...lots of people like you and they are no where near to "taking it lightly". Instead of booking your next concert...take the stage and champion those with your diagnosis that are pleading for more reseach.
I will pray for your sister. I can only imagine the pain...
Too bad your cat has you for a caregiver!
I wonder if she "caught" brain cancer from Lance Armstrong.
Jonathan Reid- Gliablastomas are BENIGN. Not maligant! Not a helpful comment for you to make.
Excuse me, but they are talking about meningiomas, not glioblastomas, which my brother-in-law died of and yes, his was malignant. Since he died, I keep hearing of more and more people getting them. He was on the cell phone a lot and it started with the old, big cell phone from years ago. So, don't believe the studies. They aren't conclusive. We don't know what caused his, but it's a big possibility it was cell phone use.
Jonathan: That is down right mean! Haven't you learned anything in life.. BE NICE! Benign tumors can also kill, they put undo pressure on the brain, head and spinal cord!
Or Earnhardt Jr.?
There is only so much room in your skull. In most cases the brain occupies most of the space. A tumor has to fight for room and will cause nasty side effects whether benign or not.
True not half of us have a tumor like Sheryl. It just seems like it because people like "walk with me" never shut up. Sorry your cat has "azz cancer". It really shouldn't have shared "toys" wih you.
So, why is it that dentists remain insistent that pans are taken every year. If radiation that was once experimental to the point that they had machines in shoe stores to xray your feet, what are we taking now that will affect our children forty years from now?
please pray for my cousin.. she is a very good person and no one should have to go through this.. :(
and the money msn paid this person to write this article should put it to better use on finding a cure.
just saying
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your cousin. You are right, no one should have to go through this.
My dad had a meningioma, a meningioma is "benign" but nothing to laugh off. He had it removed during a 14 hour brain surgery and didn't wake up for 9 months-put into a drug-induced coma because his ICP (intracranial pressure) was so high, they wanted to minimize potential brain damage. Neurosurgeons removed almost half of his skull to make more room for his swollen brain. After spending over 1 year in the hospital recovering, he finally came home in a wheelchair. He had to learn to speak, eat, move and eventually walk again. Hospital staff called him a miracle, but sadly, he is not the same person he was before the tumor affected his personality, took his sense of smell, robbed him of his coordination. My father is a man who NEVER missed a day of work, a man who NEVER got sick. This became a life-changing ordeal for my entire family, especially my teen sister who often took care of him. Meningiomas should not be taken lightly, he is different now, forever on anticonvulsants, forever moody, forever a stranger.
my mom had a grade 4 glialblastoma we were actually hoping for a diagnosis of meningioma
Here in the N.W. a much loved T.V. anchor woman, Kathi Goertzen has been battling the very same benign brain tumor. There's much to admire how Kathi has publicly dealt with > 9 surgeries and all that it entails, with dignity, great courage and humor. But make no mistake there is nothing funny about anyone being confronted with Meningioma.
Don't you believe it! Gliablastomas are increasing in the U.S. population to the point that one of the major hospitals in Santa Monica, Ca has opened a "Brain Tumor" wing to deal withl the increase in Neurosurgery cases they are seeing. I was there as a nurse seeing those under 50 year old patients weekly! Also, no "tumor" is harmless, they can cause memory loss, motor function loss, strokes, speech impairment, and sometimes seizures even after treatment. Of course, we wish a speedy recovery , but to catagorize this as "minor" in just not true.
The article is talking about MALIGNANT Brain Tumors--NOT BENIGN Brain Tumors. I have a Benign Brain Tumor also. I am surviving just fine. I've already had Brain Surgery once--I just want to keep my hair!
I am sorry you have a a tumor at all, I do too, mine is not surgical. My little niece, who I love more than life on this earth, had to have her "benign" tumor removed yesterday to save her life, I write this from a hotel room across from her hospital. Her pain has been so unbearable, I cannot even describe it, I would die for her not have this pain.
The article discussed a benign type of tumor that can, in 2-3% of cases, be malignant. Please, please, do not be callous, many of us here ourselves suffer or watch those we love more than we can describe suffer from "benign" tumors.
There is nothing "benign" about a tumor in the brain.
It is not a brain cancer as is stated at the start of the 4th paragraph. Cancer and benign are the opposites of each other. A meningioma is typically benign as hers probably is.
As the name indicates, it is a tumor of the meninges not necessarily a cancerous tumor of the meninges. In fact most, as stated, are benign.
Anyone with a tumor in the head/Brain should be fast tracked for ANY reasonably safe experimental treatment. If a person's only other hope is brain/head surgery, then the potential danger of experimental treatment is a moot point.
I say this because there are treatments and drugs that spend years and years in testing for use in humans. Time to take the safety gloves off when the benefits out weigh the potential harm.
I think it is unfortunate that Sheryl Crow and her rep/PR machine are dismissing this as no big deal--it is a big deal, and as she should know, awareness=money for research and support for those who suffer from it. She could be a tremendous asset/help to the cause if she were willing to acknowledge that it is what it is, rather than dismissing it. Shame on her.
I agree, if it is such a non-event, why bother telling us, why should we care.
It is despicable of her rep to blow off those of us with "benign" bombs in our heads. Some of us will only suffer mildly from them, some of us, however, will suffer horrendously, from these nasty little monsters that medicine calls benign only because they aren't full of cells that divide uncontrollably. Some of us will suffer untold pain, pain that cannot be describe by human language, pain that until you feel it, you cannot comprehend.
I know a tiny fraction of this pain from my own "benign" brain tumor; one of the most precious people on earth to me, however, suffers unimaginably from hers and the post surgical pain seems to be worse...
Ms. Crow and her Rep owe us all an apology.
It's being dismissed because to acknowledge that Ms. Crow's health is, in fact, in danger would infer that she is just like the rest of us. Anyone who has followed Ms. Crow's career and has seen how she has treated people around her knows that she does not believe that she is just like the rest of us.
My great friend of 27 yrs just died this past week from Grade IV Brain Cancer, I am only 36 and he is just two yrs older than me. He leaves behind a young wife and 2 young boys. This cancer in NOT uncommon today and should get more national attention and funding. May you Rest in Peace Basil.
I wish Sheryl all the best. I feel bad for her with all she's gone through with breast cancer and all. Prayers will definitely be sent up for this brave and talented woman.
The sad part of this story is people die from benign brain tumors, they grow, put pressure on vital organs, brain, spinal cord, etc.. Hopefully Sheryl has a great Oncologist, she has already had cancer, this could be a very life threatening situation! I hope all is well, she is a new mom!
For all those who've commented who seem to think this is a big joke, shame on you. My husband died 9 months to the day after being diagnosed with a Grade 4 Glioblastoma. No brain tumor is funny, benign or malignant. I would certainly hope that neither you nor anyone in your family or your friends ever has to go through what someone with a brain tumor goes through. My husband was a very educated and articulate man who, by the time he died, didn't know my name, couldn't communicate and suffered greatly. Maybe you can give some thought to something more than sophomoric and rude comments.
I had a aunt, and two older female friends, who died from brain tumours, over 30 years ago. A lot of good things have been done with them since then, but they are still very dangerous. Even the begin tumours are bad. One of our local new anchors, in Seattle, has had one for some time, now. She has, had to go in more than once, to get it out, as it could make her blind, and deaf, if they do not. It is no laughing matter. by the way I don't believe that they are caused by cell phone usuage, as all the people I know who had one, never had cell phones, as they were not around then. I wish Crow, a speedy recovery.
I was diagnosed in 1995 when I was 60 years old with a benign meningioma and was told that in the future I would have to have surgery to remove it. I had to have a cat scan on a yearly basis to keep watch on the development of the tumor. It didn't grow and became more calcified with time until I was told that no more scans were necessary. I am now 77 and the only symptom I am aware of is poor sense of smell. I do take seizure medication because the neurologist said I am borderline for having seizure activity. As it stands, I think the tumor will stay with me for the duration of my life. I would like to say to "walk with me in hell" this story had nothing to do with how good of a singer Sheryl is and my prayer is that God will help you and may you stay in good health !
We had 2 neurosurgeons tell us my mother had a meningioma and how easy it would be to remove. How wrong they were.
During surgery they discovered it was in fact a malignant metastatic tumor related to a prior bout of breast cancer. For the next few months, it was one health crisis after another related to her surgery and ongoing hospitalization ... pneumonia, the blood clots ... she was unable to speak and had to be fed through a tube. We had been warned by a friend about the nightmare that could result from this surgery - there was nothing easy about it ... and destroyed any quality of life for my mother during the last few months of her life before died due to complications from the surgery.
What the government doesn't want you to know is how bad things are. One in Two men and One in Three women will get cancer during their lives! Our government lies to us, kind of like after the current radiation levels of tuna after the Japan melt down, the EPA raised the safe level of radiation in tuna for us to eat.
Brain tumors are nothing to laugh about or to not take care of my 19yr old grandaughter was having headaches for a few months....she went to er on a monday nov 14th 2011 she was dead nov 16th 2001 left 3 beautiful fatherless babies.....i miss her more than i can describe......brain tumors are no joke to be played with