This year, an estimated 22,020 adults (11,980 men and 10,040 women) in the United States will be diagnosed with primary malignant tumors of the brain and spinal cord.
Doctors use many tests to diagnose a brain tumor, find out the type of brain tumor, and rarely, find out if it has metastasized (spread).
Surgery is the first treatment most commonly used for a brain tumor and is often the only treatment needed for a non-cancerous brain tumor. Removing the tumor can improve neurological symptoms, provide tissue for diagnosis, help make other brain tumor treatments more effective, and, in many instances, improve the prognosis of patients with brain tumors.
Risk Factors:
- Age
- Gender - males are more likely to develop a brain tumor than females
- Family History
- Exposure to infections, viruses, and allergens
- Head injury and seizures
- Exposure to nerve agents
Signs and Symptoms:
- Headaches, which may be severe and may worsen with activity or in the early morning
- Seizures
- Pressure or headache near the tumor
- Loss of balance and difficulty with fine motor skills (cerebellum)
- Changes in judgment, including loss of initiative, sluggishness, and muscle weakness or paralysis (frontal lobe of the cerebrum)
- Partial or complete loss of vision (occipital lobe or temporal lobe of the cerebrum)
- Changes in speech, hearing, memory, or emotional state, such as aggressiveness and problems understanding or retrieving words (frontal and temporal lobe of cerebrum)
- Altered perception of touch or pressure, arm or leg weakness on one side of the body, or confusion with left and right sides of the body (frontal or parietal lobe of the cerebrum)
- Inability to look upward (pineal tumor)
- Lactation and altered menstrual periods in women, and growth in hands and feet in adults (pituitary tumor)
- Difficulty swallowing, facial weakness or numbness, or double vision (brain stem)
- Vision changes, including loss of part of the vision or double vision (temporal lobe, occipital lobe, or brainstem)
For more information about cancer prevention/ detection, treatment options, ongoing research or support programs, please call the Lake Health/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center at 440-205-5755.