A headache--even a severe one--on its own is seldom a symptom of meningioma or any other brain tumor. Other tumor locations can affect your sense of smell, vision, hearing or even the function of your pituitary gland. Brain tumor diagnosis is often incidental — that is, the doctor discovers a tumor on a CT or MRI while examining the individual for another reason such as a head injury or another neurologic problem. When a doctor diagnoses a meningioma, you will get further tests to find out how the tumor is likely to behave.
Based on these data, a neurosurgeon will recommend removing the tumor or just watching it to see if it grows.
It can be shocking for someone to be diagnosed with a meningioma — especially a large one — but these tumors are usually benign. This means that the tumor cells are not likely to spread to other parts of the body. That said, meningiomas can quietly grow for years without causing any problems — and they can get surprisingly large. However, African-American people are more likely to get meningiomas. Being exposed to certain chemicals, such as those you might find in a work environment, can increase your risk for brain cancer.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health keeps a list of potential cancer-causing chemicals found in work places. People who have been exposed to ionizing radiation have an increased risk of brain tumors. You can be exposed to ionizing radiation through high-radiation cancer therapies. You can also be exposed to radiation from nuclear fallout.
The nuclear power plant incidents in Fukushima and Chernobyl are examples of how people can be exposed to ionizing radiation. According to the American Brain Tumor Association , people with a history of childhood chicken pox have a decreased risk of getting brain tumors. Symptoms of brain tumors depend on the location and size of the tumor.
Some tumors cause direct damage by invading brain tissue and some tumors cause pressure on the surrounding brain. The physical exam includes a very detailed neurological examination. Your doctor will conduct a test to see if your cranial nerves are intact. These are the nerves that originate in your brain. Your doctor will look inside your eyes with an ophthalmoscope, which is an instrument that shines a light through your pupils and onto your retinas.
This allows your doctor to check how your pupils react to light. When pressure increases inside the skull, changes in the optic nerve can occur. CT scans are ways for your doctor get a more detailed scan of your body than they could with an X-ray machine.
This can be done with or without contrast. Contrast is achieved in a CT scan of the head by using a special dye that helps doctors see some structures, like blood vessels, more clearly. If you have an MRI of your head , a special dye can be used to help your doctor detect tumors.
The dye travels to the arteries in your brain. It allows your doctor to see what the blood supply of the tumors looks like. This information is useful at the time of surgery. Brain tumors can cause breaks or fractures in the bones of the skull, and specific X-rays can show if this has occurred.
See a GP if you have symptoms of a brain tumour. While it's unlikely to be a tumour, these symptoms need to be assessed by a doctor. If the GP thinks you may have a brain tumour, or they're not sure what's causing your symptoms, they'll refer you to a brain and nerve specialist called a neurologist. The cause of most non-cancerous brain tumours is unknown, but you're more likely to develop one if:.
Surgery is used to remove most non-cancerous brain tumours, and they do not usually come back after being removed. But sometimes tumours do grow back or become cancerous.
If all of the tumour cannot be removed, other treatments, such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy , may be needed to control the growth of the remaining abnormal cells. After treatment, you may have persistent problems, such as seizures and difficulties with speech and walking. You may need supportive treatment to help you recover from, or adapt to, these problems. So you may not need to treat them, as long as long as you follow them carefully," Dr.
Fenstermaker explains. He stresses that if treatment is needed, it's still important that patients seek treatment at a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center like Roswell Park, even for benign tumors. The same skill set is involved in each treatment. The question to ask your neurosurgeon is not necessarily, 'How many of this particular type of tumor have you removed?
These include surgery, radiation therapy and, in some cases, chemotherapy — all things that are offered at a comprehensive cancer center like Roswell Park.
There's always the risk of complications during surgery, and patients may be at risk of stroke during the removal of a brain tumor. In addition, temporary swelling of the brain may occur following surgery or focused radiation therapy.
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