Serious injury lawyer explores head injuries and the increased risk of brain cancer

As I deal with many claims relating to head injuries, new developments and studies relating to potential risk factors arising from head injuries interest me greatly. 

Such risk factors, if and when accepted in mainstream medicine, may well result in higher or different compensation awards, and of course greater awareness amongst clients and their treating consultants of the risks related to head injuries can only lead to better outcome in terms of timely diagnoses. 

As a serious injury lawyer, I was therefore fascinated to hear of a study in Current Biology relating to the heightened risk of brain cancer for sufferers of head injuries. 

Study held into connection between head injuries and brain tumours

Last year, researchers from the UCL Cancer Institute reported that they had studied the connection between head injuries and the development of a relatively rare but often aggressive type of cancer called a glioma which manifests as a brain tumour. 

Previous studies had hinted at a possible connection between the two, but apparently they were relatively inconclusive. However, UCL researchers set out to identify a possible mechanism to explain the link between the two. Interestingly, they found that genetic mutations acting in concert with brain tissue inflammation can change the behaviour of cells and make them more likely to become cancerous. The study was on mice, so there will need to be further investigation whether this correlates to humans. 

Research suggests brain trauma may contribute to heightened risk of cancer

One of the lead researchers, Professor Simona Parrinello (UCL Cancer Institute), Head of the Samantha Dickson Brain Cancer Unit and co-lead of the Cancer Research UK Brain Tumour Centre of Excellence suggests that brain trauma may contribute to an increased risk of such brain cancer in later life by comparing younger to older mice. 

Essentially, neural stem cells often seem to be where brain cancers such as gliomas originate, whereas more mature brain cells such as astrocytes were felt to be more resistant. What the research showed was that in some circumstances astrocytes could revert to similar behaviour as neural stem cells. Professor Parrinello states the team therefore set out to discover whether she could trigger astrocytes to form brain tumours following brain trauma. 

The study findings showed that following (what seem to be quite common) gene mutations, along with brain inflammation induced by acute injury, during the natural process of ageing astrocytes were more likely to initiate a cancer. In fact, the reversion to neural stem-cell like behaviour increased in the astrocytes when they injected mice with a solution known to cause inflammation.

The researchers also cooperated with Dr Alvina Lai at the UCL Institute of Health Informatics and consulted electronic medical records of over 20,000 people diagnosed with head injuries. They weighed up the rate of brain cancer with a control group, which they matched for age, sex and socioeconomic status and found that patients who experienced a head injury were nearly four times more likely to develop a brain cancer later in life. 

Risk of developing brain cancer before and after injury

Keeping that in perspective, the risk of developing a brain cancer is estimated at less than 1% over a lifetime - so very low overall. Even after an injury, therefore, the risk remains relatively modest albeit still quantifiable. It is a development I will continue following, in the hope that future studies gain more insight into and a larger evidence base of the connection between head injury and/or trauma and brain cancers. 

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's expertise in supporting people impacted by serious injury at our dedicated section on the website.