Grades of brain cancer

If you have brain cancer, you might be told it’s a certain 'grade'. This describes whether or not it has spread within your brain or spinal cord, and how far. Brain tumours rarely spread outside the brain and spinal cord.

Knowing the grade of the cancer helps you and your doctors to decide on the best treatment for you.

• Grade 1: The tumour grows slowly and rarely spreads to nearby tissues.
• Grade 2: The tumour grows slowly but may spread to nearby tissues.
• Grade 3: The tumour grows quickly and is likely to spread to nearby tissues.  It looks very different to surrounding cells.
• Grade 4: The tumour grows very quickly. The cells look the most abnormal.

With all stages of brain cancer, there is plenty of treatment and support that can help you, including traditional medicine and practices like ceremony and being on Country.