The term “brain tumor” carries a particularly scary connotation. And if you’re a fan of TV medical dramas, you may think they’re quite common. However, less than 1% of Americans are living with a primary brain tumor (one that starts in the brain), and about 72% of those are benign, per the National Brain Tumor Society. Still, knowing the most common symptoms of brain tumors may help you get a diagnosis (if only to rule one out and move on to another reason for symptoms).
“The most common brain tumors fall into two broad categories,” says Walavan Sivakumar, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Torrance, CA. The first is primary tumors. “Among primary tumors, meningiomas and gliomas are most common,” Dr. Sivakumar says. Per Johns Hopkins Medicine, meningiomas account for about one-third of all brain tumors, and over 85% of them are noncancerous. Gliomas make up another third of brain tumors and have many types, including some that are benign and others that are cancerous.
Meet the experts: Walavan Sivakumar, M.D., a neurosurgeon at Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Torrance, CA; Rohan Ramakrishna, M.D., the chief of neurological surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine.
The second main type is metastatic tumors, or brain metastases. “These spread to the brain from elsewhere in the body,” explains Rohan Ramakrishna, M.D., the chief of neurological surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Weill Cornell Medicine. “Brain metastases are more common than primary brain tumors. In the U.S., estimates suggest over 150,000 people with cancer are diagnosed with brain metastases annually.” (That’s compared to about 94,000 diagnoses of new primary brain tumors, according to the National Brain Tumor Society.)
Here, neurologists share the most common symptoms of new brain tumors, including some that may be attributed to other conditions. Experts also explain the factors that influence what symptoms you might experience and when you should give your doctor a call.
Symptoms of a brain tumor
As is the case with many different health conditions, some of the earliest symptoms of a brain tumor may be subtle or easy to attribute to other, everyday problems, says Dr. Ramakrishna. “[These include] fatigue, brain fog, subtle mood/personality change, mild imbalance, intermittent visual blurring, or gradually worsening concentration.” He notes that while these symptoms are usually not due to a brain tumor, the fact that they are so common is one reason that diagnosis of a tumor may be delayed. “Sometimes, these tumors can have no or very minimal symptoms because the tumors are small or have been very slow growing,” Dr. Ramakrishna adds.
Beyond these more general symptoms, there are some neurological signs that are typical of brain tumors. According to Dr. Ramakrishna and Dr. Sivakumar, these may include:
- Unusual headaches
- Seizures
- Weakness or numbness on one side of the body
- Speech difficulties
- Coordination problems
- Personality changes
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Memory problems
- Vision changes
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Cognitive dysfunction
“Symptoms often develop gradually rather than suddenly,” Dr. Sivakumar notes.
Factors that may impact symptoms
If you do have a brain tumor, it’s highly unlikely that you will experience all of these symptoms. Instead, you may see certain ones depending on a few key factors. “Symptoms are influenced primarily by where the tumor is located, how large it is, and how quickly it is growing,” explains Dr. Sivakumar. “The brain is highly specialized, so even a small tumor in a critical area can cause noticeable symptoms, while a larger tumor in a less sensitive area may go unnoticed for longer.”
Take a pituitary adenoma, a benign tumor that develops at the pituitary gland, which is at the base of the brain behind the eyes, for example. “For tumors like pituitary adenomas, symptoms can often be related to visual dysfunction because of pressure on the eye nerves,” Dr. Ramakrishna explains. With this type of tumor, you likely won’t see speech issues, for instance, since speech is governed by a different part of the brain.
In addition to location, Dr. Ramakrishna says that larger tumors put more pressure on the surrounding areas of the brain, which may cause symptoms, while rapidly growing tumors tend to produce noticeable signs earlier than slow-growing ones. Swelling around the tumor also plays a role, he adds, as it may put pressure on the surrounding tissue the same way a physically large tumor might. Finally, “blockage of brain fluid pathways can also raise intracranial pressure, while bleeding into a tumor is less common but can cause sudden symptoms,” says Dr. Ramakrishna.
When to see a doctor
Listen to your body. “A new neurological symptom that is persistent or progressively worsening should always prompt medical evaluation,” says Dr. Sivakumar. New and persistent are the keys here—if you’re experiencing something that’s unusual for you, definitely give your doctor a call. “The most typical test in these situations will be an MRI scan,” Dr. Ramakrishna says. From there, doctors can help you get to the root of your symptoms and get the treatment you need.
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