Brain tumors may arise from the brain, or spread there from other organ systems (metastases). If there is one solitary metastatic tumor, surgery to remove this is often considered. This is an example of a metastatic tumor from the esophagus in the primary somatomotor cortex shown in Figure A (outlined by box). This produced weakness and numbness of the arm on the opposite side of the body. After complete surgical resection, the postoperative scan shown in Figure B shows no residual tumor. Surgery is more risky when these tumors are in important areas of the brain such as this. This patient went on to make a full recovery.