Neither the usual life insurance policy nor a total and permanent disability cover may be appropriate to claim against should you be diagnosed with suffering from a benign brain tumour. Benign tumours are not considered as being cancerous although some may have malignant aspects such as a malignant meningiomas and the fact that some benign brain tumours do eventually develop into cancer for some, as yet, unknown reason.

What is a brain tumour?

A brain tumour is an abnormal mass of tissue in which cells multiply uncontrollably. They are apparently not controlled or regulated by the body as normals cells are. A brain tumour grows inside the skull and thereby takes up room normally occupied by the brain. It interferes with brain activity buy putting pressure on the brain as it grows which it does by shifting the brain from its normal position or pushing it against the skull.

It sometimes invades and damages nerves as well as the healthy brain tissue. The positioning of the brain tumour in the skull determines the symptoms that something is nor right in that different bodily functions are controlled by different parts of the brain. It is very rare for brain tumours to spread to other parts of the body outside the central nervous system.

Do you need life insurance?

When a person suffers from a medical trauma such as a benign brain tumour life insurance is of no assistance as the person is still alive.

You might well be very seriously ill and unable to return to work for some time but the illness is still not regarded as being cancerous (at this stage) or life threatening, because it has been diagnosed as being benign. You may not be able to return to work and perform at the level you had been performing previously but policies like income protection and total and permanent disability insurance may not be suitable either since a pay out will depend on the effect of the event after its occurrence. There is a policy known as trauma insurance that will pay out on the actual diagnosis of the illness.

Benign brain tumours are a slow developing tumour that can be removed or destroyed if a surgeon is able to access it without disturbing the brain itself. Malignant tumours often referred to as a brain cancer are fast growing tumours that invade and interfere with normal brain tissue, often destroying it in the process. Medical science does not understand the reason why as yet but many benign brain tumours eventually develop into malignant tumours.

Medical science uses a grading system to classify the varying types of brain tumours. This grading is based on the tumours ability to grow. The World Health Organisation (WHO) systems of classification is the one most used by the medical profession and it classifies brain tumours by cell origin and how the cells behave – from the least aggressive (benign) to the most aggressive (malignant). In between they are assigned a grade depending of their rate of growth. There are differences between the grading systems that depend on the type of tumour being examined but the overall system gives a reliable indication of how an individual tumour is likely to behave.

What is trauma insurance?

Trauma insurance is more expensive than other forms of life insurance. This is because of the misfortune of suffering a critical illness. The lump sum payment received when diagnosed with having a benign tumour is tax free but the insurance premiums are not tax deductible as are life insurance premiums.

The differences between benign and malignant brain tumours can be quite ambiguous. Some benign tumours can be just as dangerous as a malignant tumour especially if it is growing in an area where it is hard to reach without damaging the brain as would be the case if it was growing on the brain stem. On the other hand some malignant brain tumours can be treated quite successfully.

Even though brain tumours are classified to indicate their potential they are also quite specific to each individual. They have very different characteristics and patterns of growth due to the molecular make up of the individual tumour. Many benign brain tumours are stable or go into a remission period where no growth takes place meaning that the tumour cells have entered a phase where they have stopped growing and multiplying. On many occasions these tumour cells will never grow again. Sometimes the tumour has actually been destroyed leaving only dead tissue known as necrosis in its place. In other circumstances the cells actually remain alive and retain the ability to begin growing again only to become troublesome at a later date.