Symptoms And Causes of Brain cancer

Brain cancer symptoms vary from patient to patient, and most of these symptoms can also be found in people who do NOT have brain cancers.

Therefore, the only sure way to tell if you have a brain cancer or not is to see your doctor and get a brain scan.brain cancer symptoms We did a survey of over 400 brain cancer patients to learn what symptoms they had that caused them to seek medical care.

brain cancer symptoms They reported:


Headaches:

This was the most common symptom, with 46% of the patients reporting having headaches. They described the headaches in many different ways, with no one pattern being a sure sign of brain cancer. Many - perhaps most - people get headaches at some point in their life, so this is not a definite sign of brain cancers. You should mention it to your doctors if the headaches are: different from those you ever had before, are accompanied by nausea / vomiting, are made worse by bending over or straining when going to the bathroom.(1)


Seizures: 

This was the second most common symptom reported, with 33% of the patients reporting a seizure before the diagnosis was made. Seizures can also be caused by other things, like epilepsy, high fevers, stroke, trauma, and other disorders. (3) This is a symptom that should never be ignored, whatever the cause. In a person who never had a seizure before, it usually indicates something serious and you must get a brain scan.

 A seizure is a sudden, involuntary change in behavior, muscle control, consciousness, and/or sensation. Symptoms of a seizure can range from sudden, violent shaking and total loss of consciousness to muscle twitching or slight shaking of a limb. Staring into space, altered vision, and difficulty in speaking are some of the other behaviors that a person may exhibit while having a seizure. Approximately 10% of the U.S. population will experience a single seizure in their lifetime.


Nausea and Vomiting: 

As with headaches, these are non-specific symptoms - which means that most people who have nausea and vomiting do NOT have a brain cancer. Twenty-two percent of the people in our survey reported that they had nausea and /or vomiting as a symptom.

Nausea and / or vomiting is more likely to point towards a brain cancer if it is accompanied by the other symptoms mentioned here.

Vision or hearing problems:

Twenty-five percent reported vision problems. This one is easy - if you notice any problem with your hearing or vision, it must be checked out. I commonly hear that the eye doctor is the first one to make the diagnosis - because when they look in your eyes, they can sometimes see signs of increased intracranial pressure. This must be investigated.

Problems with weakness of the arms, legs or face muscles, and strange sensations in your head or hands. Twenty-five percent reported weakness of the arms and/or legs. Sixteen percent reported strange feelings in the head, and 9% reported strange feelings in the hands. This may result in an altered gait, dropping objects, falling, or an asymmetric facial expression. These could also be symptoms of a stroke. Sudden onset of these symptoms is an emergency - you should go to the emergency room. If you notice a gradual change over time, you must report it to your doctor.

Behavioral and cognitive problems

Many reported behavioral and cognitive changes, such as: problems with recent memory, inability to concentrate or finding the right words, acting out - no patience or tolerance, and loss of inhibitions - saying or doing things that are not appropriate for the situation.

IF you think something is wrong, go see your doctor. Explain that you are worried it is a brain cancer. Keep in mind that brain cancers are relatively rare compared to most other disorders, so the primary care doctor is not usually going to be thinking it is a brain cancer. They first think of more common causes of the symptoms. Sixty-four percent of the time, the doctor thought it was NOT a brain cancer when respondents first went to the doctor. More than half of the people reported that they had the symptoms for more than a month before the correct diagnosis of brain cancer was made. With the malignant brain cancers, a delay of a month in starting treatment can make a major impact on the outcome.


Causes of Brain Cancer:

 Brain tumors that begin in the brain

Primary brain tumors originate in the brain itself or in tissues close to it, such as in the brain-covering membranes (meninges), cranial nerves, pituitary gland or pineal gland.

Primary brain tumors begin when normal cells acquire errors (mutations) in their DNA. These mutations allow cells to grow and divide at increased rates and to continue living when healthy cells would die. The result is a mass of abnormal cells, which forms a tumor.

Primary brain tumors are much less common than are secondary brain tumors, in which cancer begins elsewhere and spreads to the brain.

Many different types of primary brain tumors exist. Each gets its name from the type of cells involved. Examples include:

Gliomas. These tumors begin in the brain or spinal cord and include astrocytomas, ependymoma, glioblastomas, oligoastrocytomas and oligodendrogliomas.

Meningiomas. A meningioma is a tumor that arises from the membranes that surround your brain and spinal cord (meninges). Most meningiomas are noncancerous.

Acoustic neuromas (schwannomas). These are benign tumors that develop on the nerves that control balance and hearing leading from your inner ear to your brain.

Pituitary adenomas. These are mostly benign tumors that develop in the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. These tumors can affect the pituitary hormones with effects throughout the body.

Medulloblastomas. These are the most common cancerous brain tumors in children. A medulloblastoma starts in the lower back part of the brain and tends to spread through the spinal fluid. These tumors are less common in adults, but they do occur.

PNETs. Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are rare, cancerous tumors that start in embryonic (fetal) cells in the brain. They can occur anywhere in the brain.

Germ cell tumors. Germ cell tumors may develop during childhood where the testicles or ovaries will form. But sometimes germ cell tumors move to other parts of the body, such as the brain.

Craniopharyngiomas. These rare, noncancerous tumors start near the brain's pituitary gland, which secretes hormones that control many body functions. As the craniopharyngioma slowly grows, it can affect the pituitary gland and other structures near the brain.


Cancer that begins elsewhere and spreads to the brain

Secondary (metastatic) brain tumors are tumors that result from cancer that starts elsewhere in your body and then spreads (metastasizes) to your brain.

Secondary brain tumors most often occur in people who have a history of cancer. But in rare cases, a metastatic brain tumor may be the first sign of cancer that began elsewhere in your body.

Secondary brain tumors are far more common than are primary brain tumors.

Any cancer can spread to the brain, but the most common types include:

• Breast cancer
• Colon cancer
• Kidney cancer
• Lung cancer
• Melanoma

Risk factors

In most people with primary brain tumors, the cause of the tumor is not clear. But doctors have identified some factors that may increase your risk of a brain tumor. Risk factors include:

• Your age. Your risk of a brain tumor increases as you age. Brain tumors are most common in older adults. However, a brain tumor can occur at any age. And certain types of brain tumors occur almost exclusively in children.

• Exposure to radiation. People who have been exposed to a type of radiation called ionizing radiation have an increased risk of brain tumor. Examples of ionizing radiation include radiation therapy used to treat cancer and radiation exposure caused by atomic bombs.

More common forms of radiation, such as electromagnetic fields from power lines and radiofrequency radiation from cellphones and microwave ovens, have not been proved to be linked to brain tumors.

• Family history of brain tumors. A small portion of brain tumors occur in people with a family history of brain tumors or a family history of genetic syndromes that increase the risk of brain tumors.

Symptoms and Causes of Brain tumors

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