Proliferations of the brain or meninges are collectively referred to as brain tumors. The tumor can be either good or malignant. Benign tumors in the brain grow rather slowly and usually remain clearly contoured, i.e. they can be easily distinguished and recognized from the surrounding brain tissue. In contrast, malignant tumors are characterized by rapid and infiltrative growth. In this context, infiltrative means that the tumor grows into neighboring tissue; boundaries between tumor and healthy brain can no longer be distinguished.
Symptoms
If a tumor grows in the brain, it usually only leads to symptoms once the growth reaches a certain size. In the case of malignant tumors, symptoms, caused by the rapid growth, usually appear at an early stage of the disease. The signs of a brain tumor are very unspecific, which means that they can also occur in other diseases or have completely harmless causes.
Often the first signs of a brain tumor are neurological deficits. These range from headaches and dizziness, nausea and vomiting to epileptic seizures (convulsions). Forgetfulness or changes in personality (changes in character) are also among the possible neurological signs of a brain tumor.
Other symptoms that can occur are sensory disturbances and paralysis of the extremities (arms and legs). Headaches are caused by the space the tumor occupies. The brain is surrounded by the bony skull, so space is limited.
Due to the higher pressure in the brain caused by the swelling of the tissue around the tumor, headache occurs together with nausea and vomiting. Seizures are caused by uncontrolled discharges of nerve fibers and lead to muscle cramps with loss of consciousness. Depending on where the brain tumor is located, there are also speech disorders or coordination problems in addition to changes in character and signs of paralysis.
It can be assumed, for example, that the tumor is located in the right hemisphere of the brain when paralysis occurs on the left leg, because the left hemisphere of the brain controls the muscles on the right side of the body and the right hemisphere of the brain controls the left side of the body. Eye or vision problems are considered a general sign of increased intracranial pressure. If the pressure in the brain is increased by a tumor, the visual disturbances are often accompanied by dizziness and nausea.
This results in double images, or “dots in front of the eyes”. A brain tumor can also develop in the area of the optic nerve. The optic nerve is located in the front part of the brain, it begins inside the eyes and then runs to a junction where the nerve fibers of the left eye pull into the right hemisphere of the brain, the fibers of the right eye into the left hemisphere of the brain.
If a tumor grows on the optic nerve, it may damage the nerve. Signs of optic nerve damage are either complete blindness in one eye (anospia) or partial loss of visual field (hemianospias). Visual field failures may vary depending on which part of the optic nerve has been damaged.
For example, damage in the area where the nerve fibers cross each other (optic chiasm) causes a loss of the external visual field of both eyes (bitemporal hemianopsia). However, there are also left- or right-sided visual field failures. In a left-sided visual field loss, the outer visual field of the left eye is disturbed, while the inner visual field of the right eye is disturbed.
The exact opposite is true for a right-sided visual field defect. The cause of such signs is an impairment of the optic nerve after crossing its fibres. In very rare cases, a twitching eyelid may be detected due to a growing brain tumor.
However, since eye twitching is a non-specific symptom, there are rather harmless causes behind it, which you can read about in our appropriate article: Twitching eyelid – These are the causes Vision problems do not necessarily have to be a sign of a brain tumor, but should be taken seriously in any case. Many other diseases of the brain, for example a stroke, are also capable of causing visual disorders. If you notice limitations in your visual perception, you should consult a doctor as soon as possible to rule out serious diseases.
Nosebleeds (epistaxis), especially nosebleeds in children, occur frequently and usually have harmless causes, such as constant picking of the nose or a blow to the nose, as can happen during sports, for example.As a sign of a brain tumor in the true sense of the word, nosebleeds can be triggered by increased intracranial pressure. However, this is only very rarely observed. It is much more likely that nosebleeds are caused by increased intracranial pressure, for example after a craniocerebral trauma.
Tumors that cause nosebleeds are usually located in the nasopharynx or in the paranasal sinuses. Since the paranasal sinuses belong to the bony skull and not to the brain, these growths are not referred to as brain tumors. Nevertheless, they can damage blood vessels through aggressive growth and thus cause bleeding from the nose.
Other symptoms of such a tumor are purulent admixtures to the blood coming out of the nose and swelling of the cervical lymph nodes. The signs of a brain tumor in children are similar to those in adults. The main symptoms are also headaches with possible dizziness, nausea and vomiting.
If children suddenly change their behavior or their nature, for example, they suddenly become angry or even aggressive very quickly, although this was not the case before, and if such changes in nature occur at the same time as neurological symptoms, including visual disturbances, the children should have a medical examination. Another sign of a brain tumor, which is more frequently observed in children, is coordination disorders. Affected children stumble and fall a lot at once, even though they can already walk properly.
Sometimes speech disorders are observed, the children search for words but are no longer able to express themselves (word finding disorders) or they speak a lot and fluently but without meaning (speech comprehension disorders). The occurrence of such signs should be taken seriously in children. There does not have to be a brain tumor behind it, however, it is recommended to have such serious changes clarified by a pediatrician, if not even by a neurologist.
