Brain tumour: Important to notice early signs and understand risk factors like cancer

The brain is a complex organ, it's like a universe within. The brain controls thought, memory, emotions, touch, vision, breathing, and other vital body regulations, and any abnormality with the brain, such as the presence of tumours, may become critical. It poses a threat to the central nervous system (CNS). The brain and spinal cord that extends from it make up the CNS.

Experts have described brain tumour as the mass or growth of abnormal cells in the brain, it can be cancerous or non-cancerous. Common symptoms of brain tumours are new or strong headaches, blurred vision, seizures, loss of balance, and confusion. Notably, there have been instances when no symptoms were reported.

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WION got in touch withDr VP Singh, who is the chairman of the Institute of Neurosciences, Medanta inGururam. Dr Singh, who has about 30 years of experience, weighed in on the symptoms and risk factors associated with brain tumour and shared valuable information.

Dr Singh said that brain tumours most commonly present with headaches, but he noted that headaches are very common and it is important to identify those associated with a tumour.

"We have to really see what are the type of headaches, how the headaches of a brain tumour are different from these everyday headaches,"he added.

"The most important thing is the progression of the headache. In case of brain tumour, the growth is going to keep on increasing in size. As the tumour increases, it takes up more space and the pressure inside the skull becomes high as the skull is a closed compartment," Dr Singh said, adding that the larger the tumour, the higher will be the pressure.

He added, "So the headache which is there in the brain tumour may appear to be innocuous to start with, but over a period of time, it increases both in intensity as well as frequency, till it becomes an almost continuous and severe headache."

Dr Singh explained that there can be other associated findings with the headache which are not so common. For example, vomiting, nausea, etc.

In a report published last year in September by the Archives of Public Health, it was mentioned that brain and CNS cancers remain a major public health burden, particularly in high-income regions. The global incidence, deaths, and DALYs of brain and CNS cancers were shown to have increased significantly from 1990 to 2019.

Important to read the early signs of brain tumour

Headaches:Dr Singh explained that some headaches like migraine, may also be linked with vomiting and nausea but those headaches occur episodically. But in a patient with a brain tumour, the headache is more frequent,turns continuous and may be associated with early morning vomiting after waking up.

Headaches linked to brain tumours mostly happen early morning, when you wake up, unlike those associated with stress and tension, which mostly happen during the day.

Epilepsy:Dr Singh said that the second common identification is epilepsy, which is a disorder in which nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed, causing seizures. Some cases are treated with medicines, but there are cases of epilepsy which are difficult to control and may be related to a brain tumour.

What are the risk factors associated with a brain tumour?

A brain tumour can be benign, which is non-cancerous, or it could be cancerous. Dr Singh said that both the tumoursare dangerous because they can harm the brain and related functions depending on its location, and the part of the brain getting affected.

There are no specific causes for a brain tumour. There are certain genetic conditions for its occurrence but it happens in a very small percentage.

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