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A brain tumor is not only a tumor, but also any other structure foreign to the brain, the formation and development of which causes an increase in intracranial tightness. The most common brain tumors are a brain abscess, aneurysm, parasite, or arachnoid cyst. The symptoms are caused by increased intracranial and focal pressure.
Types of tumors of non-cancerous origin:
- parasite,
- aneurysm,
- brain abscess,
- arachnoid cyst.
Brain tumor symptoms
All tumors, regardless of their origin, cause similar symptoms. These include general symptoms, which depend on high intracranial and focal pressure resulting from the location of the tumor and the destruction of brain tissue by pressure.
HEADACHE
The symptom that most often occurs with a brain tumor is headache. Its frequency and intensity increases proportionally with the increase in intracranial pressure over several weeks or months. This pain most often occurs in the morning. The patient describes his sensations as banging his head. After some time, vomiting occurs and, often, mental disorders.
Over time, the patient begins to experience problems with memory, he becomes apathetic, withdraws from active life, and sometimes he is very agitated. People around him see a marked change in behavior. In some cases, there are also typical seizures with loss of consciousness and convulsions.
During the medical examination, he can also diagnose:
- slow heart rate,
- percutaneous soreness of the skull.
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Sometimes there are symptoms of irritation of the meninges, and at the bottom of the eyes you can see the so-called stasis shield. In unrecognized and untreated tumors, the increase in intracranial pressure can be so great that parts of the brain move beyond its natural limits. It’s called indentation or impaction of the brain and it is a condition that directly threatens the patient’s life. The headache noticeably worsens, the disturbances of consciousness increase rapidly, the heart rate slows down considerably and then accelerates.
- In tumors located in the cerebral hemisphere, the hallmark of intussusception is the dilatation of one pupil and the absence of an abnormal response to light.
- Respiratory disorders occur in tumors located in the brainstem and cerebellum, which are located in the great opening of the skull. Failure to do so may even result in the patient’s death.
Focal symptoms
A slowly growing tumor may not show any general symptoms for weeks or even years. Different focal symptoms appear depending on the location. Common symptoms of a tumor are: mental disorders with a typical psychopathological picture. In the case of a tumor located in the frontal lobe, it is most often:
- progressive dementia,
- much less spontaneity,
- sex drive disorders,
- aggressiveness,
- fresh memory disturbance (concerning facts from a few minutes, hours or days ago),
- anxiety attacks
- depressive states.
Other focal symptoms indicating the presence of a brain tumor may include: paresis, visual disturbances, sensory disturbances, nystagmus, balance and gait disturbances, and disturbances in speech, complex movements and object recognition. It happens that it is the symptoms that make it possible to determine the location of the tumor.
Important! However, it is only possible to precisely locate the tumor computed tomography examination. It also allows the size of the accompanying edema and the risk of intussusception to be assessed.
Differences in the clinical picture of the tumor may appear in older people. Due to decreased total brain mass (brain atrophy), symptoms of increased intracranial pressure appear relatively late. The most common symptoms are focal symptoms and mental disorders.
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