The presenter died on Thursday morning at the age of 2 after almost four years of treatment against the diagnosis of cancer.

RAMON VASCONCELOS / Globo TV / AFPGlória Maria was one of the great names of Brazilian journalism and passed away on Wednesday, 1st

Two days before World Cancer Day, the journalist Gloria Maria he died after facing two cancers, one in the brain and the other in the lungs. This is according to a TV statement Globe, she treated brain metastases and the treatment stopped working in the past few days. According to the Ministry of Health, lung cancer is the third most common in men and the fourth in women in Brazil. It is estimated that more than 30,000 new cases are diagnosed each year National Cancer Institute (INCA) estimate that for each year of the 2020/2022 triennium. The agency also indicates that lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in men and women, accounting for approximately 25% of all cancer-related deaths. Brain cancer is rarer, with an incidence of 11,000 new cases per year. PhD neuroscientist Fabiano de Abreu Agrela explains that the condition of Glory Mary – metastases – are cancer cells that spread to other organs and are of this type cancer it is one of the most likely to spread through the body and reach the brain. “Lung cancer is one of the most likely cancers to spread to the brain. About 10% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients have brain metastases at initial diagnosis, and up to 40% will eventually develop brain tumors during their illness. Unlike brain cancer, which originates in the brain and consists of brain cancer cells, brain metastases from lung cancer occur when cancer cells break away from the tumor in the lungs and enter the bloodstream or travel through the lymphatic system to the brain, where they multiply.” , he modified. According to the expert, metastatic brain tumors, as they grow, can damage the cells directly or affect the brain indirectly, compressing parts of it or causing swelling and increased pressure in the skull. Early warning signs can be subtle and easily attributed to other causes, including chemotherapy. He also points out that the death was not from brain cancer, but from brain metastases. “The correct name to give it is lung cancer with brain metastasis or brain cancer metastasis,” he emphasizes.

Henrique Lira, neurosurgeon at Sírio Libanês Hospital and Master of Neuroscience at Unicamp, adds that brain metastases are the only malignant tumors. “It comes from cancer in another part of the body. Thus, these cancer cells usually migrate to the bloodstream and implant in another part of our body. And the same thing happens with the brain, right? Thus, brain metastases are malignant lesions that usually require surgical treatment and are also associated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. We suspect a brain tumor when the patient presents with a new and atypical neurological symptom of progressive evolution. For example, a headache that the patient never had and started to recur, every day, progressively and intensely. In addition, another symptom is epileptic syndromes, seizures or any other alteration where there is a suspicion of an epileptic seizure that the patient has never had before. If a suspicion is detected on the MRI, we must map out the nature of that brain injury. The patient often needs surgery. Including urgent removal of the lesion and sending for biopsy, which is the most reliable test to close the diagnosis. When a malignant tumor is found, additional treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy is usually necessary,” he clarifies. Lira concludes by stating that it is always a challenge for the patient, family and medical team to face this diagnosis.