Cancer may spread to the brain through your lymph system or your bloodstream. Or it may travel to the brain from a nearby tissue. Metastatic brain tumors are becoming more common because people are living longer after having cancer somewhere else in their body.
In most cases, the metastatic brain tumor is found in the cerebrum. This is the outer part of the brain that controls your thoughts, emotions, and language ability. It also is involved in movement and sensing the outside world. But metastasis can appear in other areas of the brain, too.
Metastatic brain tumors happen most often in lung cancer. But these tumors can occur in many other types of cancer, such as melanoma or breast cancer.