Brain tumors are defined as the growth of cells in or around the brain. They may or may not be cancerous and the symptoms of the disease often depend on the location of the tumor. Cancerous brain tumors tend to grow faster than non-cancerous tumors, which usually see slower growth. (Also Read | World Brain Tumor Day 2024: Date, Theme, History, Significance and All You Need to Know)
While headaches are one of the most common symptoms of brain tumors and are present in about half of people with the disease, other symptoms may include seizures, weakness or numbness in an arm or leg, imbalance while walking, hearing loss, behavioral changes, double vision, memory loss, or headaches. The symptoms may vary depending on the location of the tumor. Some of them may be very unexpected and people may not associate them with a brain tumor.
Menstrual abnormalities, unusual behaviour, weakness in the limbs, hearing problems, drunken walking, infertility can all be related to brain tumour, but these can be diagnosed late. On the occasion of World Brain Tumour Day 2024 (June 8), Dr Rahul Gupta, Director, Neurosurgery, Fortis Hospital, Noida, explains some surprising symptoms of brain tumour that people usually ignore.
Surprising symptoms of a brain tumour
1. Abnormal behavior: The patient may become silent, uncooperative, uninterested in the surroundings, agitated or confused. They may visit a psychiatrist or physician who may start medication without any radiological investigations. The condition of such patients may improve temporarily but then deteriorate rapidly. Such patients usually have tumors in the frontal lobe.
2. Peripheral vision loss: Due to pressure on the optic pathway, various types of vision loss can occur. Partial vision loss can be overlooked or misdiagnosed by the patient and the eye surgeon. Many patients lose vision before they even have a brain MRI. A common example of this is a pituitary tumor.
3. Hormonal disturbances: While patients suffering from menstrual abnormalities, infertility, gall bladder blockage, growth retardation, thyroid related problems, gigantism etc. due to hormonal imbalance keep visiting physicians, gynaecologists or endocrinologists do not think about the possibility of brain tumour. Delay in treatment makes removal of the tumour difficult and risky.
4. The Drunk TrickSome patients with tumors in the back of the brain or increased pressure of cerebral fluid may become unbalanced when walking and may appear as if they have been drunk.
5. Hearing problems: Some patients prefer to hear phone calls with only one ear. They do not notice the gradual loss of hearing ability on one side. Tumors arising from the eighth cranial nerve may be caused by the following Loss of hearing in one ear.
6. Sudden severe headache: Some patients bleed because of an already existing brain tumor and come to the emergency room unconscious. It may be difficult to distinguish between tumor bleeding and bleeding caused by high blood pressure.
“The symptoms produced by brain tumours are typically sub-acute and progressive, developing over several days to weeks. However, because the initial symptoms are often subtle, they may eventually appear acute if recognised late. Unfortunately even a routine neurological examination cannot completely rule out the presence of an underlying brain tumour,” says Dr Bharat Kumar Suriset, Consultant Neuro Physician and Movement Disorder Specialist, Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad.
Dr Kumar also includes other lesser-known symptoms of brain tumour in the list, which people often overlook:
7. Weakness in the limbs: The frontal lobes are a common location for both primary and metastatic brain tumors, often causing motor weakness in the opposite face or limbs.
8. Language problemsTumors involving the inferior frontal or superior temporal lobe of the dominant hemisphere often present with language difficulties.
9. Visual problems: Brain tumors can cause a variety of visual symptoms depending on which part of the visual pathway they affect, such as monocular visual symptoms, ranging from scotomas to monocular blindness, visual defects, and double vision.
10. Tours. These are a common manifestation of brain tumors that may occur at the time of initial presentation or anytime in the later course of the disease. New onset or increasing frequency or severity of seizures may be a sign of underlying tumor progression and may need to be re-evaluated.
11. Nausea and vomitingNausea and vomiting can be generalized symptoms of increased intracranial pressure in patients with brain tumors, and these are most common in tumors of the posterior fossa.
12. Fainting: Brain tumor patients may experience fainting or transient loss of consciousness and tone for a variety of reasons. Changes in position can trigger pressure waves and fainting in patients with high intracranial pressure. Fainting may also be caused by tumor involvement or compression of the brain stem.
