Brain Tumor Awareness Month: Types, Signs, and Symptoms

May Month is Brain tumor awareness month. #graymay is used for awareness over the world for awareness of this disease, its prognosis, and treatment for tumors.

 

Approx 1,00,000 people in INDIA are diagnosed with brain tumors every year. An estimated 700,000 Indians are already living with a primary brain tumor.

 

 

A leading cause of tumor cancer deaths in children under the age of 20. An estimated 10,000 children are living with a primary brain tumor in INDIA. Brain tumors are also the third main cause of cancer death in adults within the 20-39 age bracket.

 

Approx 20,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with brain cancer and other nervous system cancers. These cancers make up a portion of the nearly 50,000 brain tumors that will be diagnosed in this country in 2023. An estimated 15,000 people will die from a malignant brain tumor this same year.

 

 

Brain tumors are either primary or metastatic tumors. Primary brain tumors are those which originate in the brain. Metastatic brain tumors are those which originate from cancerous cells that have migrated from other areas of the body.

 

Not all brain tumors are cancerous – benign brain tumors are non-cancerous tissue and are harmful only when they grow to a size that affects adjacent areas of the brain. Benign brain tumors tend to grow more slowly than malignant (cancerous) brain tumors. About half of the metastatic brain tumors are from lung cancer.

 

 

 

• Seizures
  
  
• Morning headaches
  
  
• Fatigue, dizziness, or drowsiness
  
  
• Impaired vision, speech, and hearing
  
  
• Difficulties when swallowing
  
  
• Nausea, vomiting
  
  
• Poor body coordination and balance
  
  
• Weakness or paralysis
  
  
• Tingling sensations and/or weakness in the arms or legs
  
  
• Behavioral, mood, and focus changes
  
  
• In infants, an increase in head size

 

It is important to note that any of the symptoms listed above may be experienced by someone with a brain tumor, but that many people with brain tumors do not actually experience any symptoms at all. Most of the time, these nonspecific general symptoms are not actually due to a brain tumor.

 

Because brain tumors are located at the control center for thought, emotion, and movement, they can have lasting and life-altering physical, cognitive, and psychological impacts on a patient’s life more than any other cancer.

 

With over 120 different forms of brain tumors, effectively treating them can become very complicated.

 

                                                                                                                     Article by- Dr. Liza Bulsara 

                                                                                                                  (Pediatric Hematologist, Oncologist)