When a primary cancer in another part of the body spreads to the brain it usually produces several new cancers, or secondaries, affecting several parts of the brain. To carry out operations to remove all these cancers from an organ as sensitive as the brain would not be possible. Occasionally, however, only a single secondary cancer will be apparent and if this is the case an operation may be possible.

For surgery to be considered a number of conditions would usually have to be met. These include:

• scan results showing only a single secondary cancer in the brain  and there is no sign of uncontrolled cancer anywhere else in the body
• the secondary cancer is in a part of the brain where an operation is possible (many parts of the brain are too sensitive for surgery and would be dangerously damaged if it were attempted)
• there has been quite a long interval between the time when the primary cancer was diagnosed and the appearance of the secondary cancer in the brain
• the person is reasonably fit and otherwise healthy

If your father's condition fitted this picture then surgery might be considered, although the decision would be made on an individual basis after careful discussion with a team of specialists.

Quite often if surgery is done then it is followed by a course of radiotherapy to the whole of the brain in case there are any other microscopic small seedlings of secondary cancer present which did not show up on the original scans.

Unfortunately, even with surgery and radiotherapy there is still a substantial risk that the secondary cancer will come back in the brain but many people who have a solitary secondary cancer in the brain treated in this way will get a worthwhile period of good quality survival.