Home / Critical illness cover / - Benign Brain Tumour
Background information
Approximately 8,500 people in the UK suffer a Brain Haemorrhage each year, with 3 or 4 out of 10 patients being left with long-term problems.
Each year in the UK there are 500 new cases of primary brain tumour (where a tumour starts in the brain, rather than spreads to the brain from another location).
1 million people are treated in hospital for head injuries each year.
9 out of every 20 victims with severe head injury will not return to work.
In total, an estimated 3 million people in the UK are currently suffering from brain-related disorders.
(BASIC, 2002)
Definition
A non-malignant tumour in the brain resulting in permanent deficit to the neurological system. Tumours or lesions in the pituitary gland are not covered. Cover usually includes non-malignant tumours in the meninges that result in permanent deficit to the neurological system.
What does this mean?
Unlike cancer, which is a malignant tumour, benign tumours are localised and grow by expansion only. They therefore do not invade and destroy the surrounding tissue and do not spread to other parts of the body. Once surgically removed they tend not to recur. However, a benign brain tumour can still be very dangerous because it can put pressure on the brain and lead to possible damage, haemorrhages and ulceration. Deficit to the neurological system means muscle weakness or sensory loss. Surgery to cure the condition may not always be possible.
05 March 2008 17:20:25
Cancer patients in Wales are being treated faster than ever before, health minister Edwina Hart has announced
The news may affect the life insurance premiums of patients in the region.
Figures published on Wednesday for the quarter ending December 31st 2007 show that 99 per cent of patients not referred to doctors as urgent cases but subsequently diagnosed with cancer started treatment within a 31-day target.
Some 94 per cent of patients referred by their GP with urgent suspected cancer and who received this diagnosis from a cancer specialist started treatment within a 62-day target.
The figures are an improvement on the previous quarter's figures which showed 93 per cent of patients started their treatment within the 62-day target and 98 per cent of patients began treatment under the 31-day target.
Ms Hart said: "Tackling cancer is a top priority. I know that previously waiting times have been disappointing but these latest figures show that the hard work of NHS staff, together with increased investment, is making a difference to the speed and quality of care that patients receive."
In March 2007, the Welsh assembly provided an additional £4.5 million for each of the regional cancer networks to support the implementation of the Designed to Tackle Cancer strategy.
According to Cancer Research UK, there were 153,491 deaths from cancer in the UK in 2005.
Direct Life and Pensions Services Ltd are one of the UK's leading providers of life insurance, term life assurance, mortgage protection, critical illness and life insurance advice online
16 June 2008 18:01:06
Raising the age at which young people can buy alcohol may or may not solve the problem of binge drinking, but it will start a debate on the subject.
The Scottish Executive has proposed that off-licenses and supermarkets should restrict the sale of alcohol to 21 year-olds.
At the moment, the age limit for buying alcohol is 18 but under the new laws youngsters would still be able to buy booze in pubs.
Quoted on the telegraph's website, James Alexander, the president of the National Union of Students in Scotland argued that changing the availability of alcohol would not work.
Mr Alexander has suggested that ministers need to "change people's attitude towards alcohol, to change the culture in this country around binge-drinking".
Other ideas being discussed to prevent binge drinking are putting an end to supermarket deals on cut-price alcohol.
BBC online spoke to Jack Law, Alcohol Focus chief executive, who suggested that making it harder for young people to get alcohol would work because it would stop them "pre-loading" and drinking before they go out.
26 July 2007 10:32:58
Treatment methods for sufferers of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease will continue to improve, according to a report published yesterday (Wednesday July 25th).
The study, by Global Industry Analysts, claims that pharmaceutical advancements will create new, more effective drugs, which will be better placed to combat the development of both neurodegenerative conditions.
An insufficient supply of treatments and growing demand from an ageing population currently place great strain on the market, with the majority of remedies only capable of treating the diseases' symptoms, rather than inhibiting their growth.
However, the new research, outline in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases: A Global Strategic Business Report, suggests that there are "mammoth opportunities" for global pharmaceutical companies to develop treatments which offer "substantial improvements" to existing drugs.
These more effective treatment methods are in the final stages of development, the report claims.
Some 120,000 people in the UK suffer from Parkinson's disease, while over half a million have Alzheimer's disease.
