1.What are the common “early signs” of brain tumor in our body?
(1) Headache.
(2) Loss of vision and visual field defects.
(3) Tinnitus.
(4) Hearing loss.
(5) Dizziness.
(6) facial numbness.
(7) Menopause, lactation.
(8) Male sexual dysfunction.
(9) Weakness and numbness of one limb.
(10) unstable walking, seizures.
2.What are the other rare “early signs” that suggest we may have brain tumor?
(1) Obesity, significant weight gain in a period of time.
(2) Enlarged hands and feet, ugly face.
(3) Double vision.
(4) Facial pain (trigeminal neuralgia).
(5) hoarseness of the voice.
(6) Choking and coughing when drinking water.
(7) enlargement of the head of the child (big head)
(8) Pediatric growth retardation or rapid height growth in children.
(9) Urinary collapse.
(10) Precocious puberty in children.
3.Is there a brain tumor in “migraine”?
There are many causes of “migraine”, and brain tumor is one of the important causes, so patients with “migraine” should be screened for brain tumor.
4.If I often feel pain and discomfort on one side of my head, but it is not very serious, should I be screened for brain tumor?
It is absolutely necessary, for example, early meningioma on one side can cause the above symptoms.
5.What are the typical characteristics of headache with high suspicion of brain tumor?
The headache is aggravated in the morning, often accompanied by nausea and vomiting, which is caused by the increase of intracranial pressure, but this often indicates that the tumor has grown very large.
6.What are the headaches caused by brain tumors that are easily ignored in daily life?
(1) Pain and discomfort in the “temples” area bilaterally, sometimes accompanied by pain in the orbital area.
(2) Pain and discomfort in the posterior occipital region, which may be mistaken for muscle strain in the neck.
(3) Mild headache, not relieved by rest.
7.What tumor should be highly suspected for bilateral pain in the “temple” area?
Pituitary tumor.
8.What tumor should be highly suspected to have uncomfortable and “tight band” sensation in the orbital area bilaterally?
Pituitary tumor and other tumors in the saddle area.
9.I often feel pain and discomfort in the “back of the head” area, which is alleviated by massage.
This may be caused by tumor in the posterior cranial fossa, and there are clinical cases that have been misdiagnosed for a long time.
10.Why do patients who have “intermittent headache” or “episodic headache” not go to the hospital?
In clinical practice, there are indeed many such patients who have to wait until the headache suddenly worsens before they have to go to the hospital, and if the headache is caused by brain tumor, the tumor has often grown very large by then, which is mainly due to the lack of understanding of the symptom “headache” and long-term neglect.
11.What other phenomena that are easy to be ignored in daily life should also be given enough attention?
(1) Snoring so loudly that you are often awakened at night while sleeping.
(2) Short-term “loss of concentration”.
(3) Sometimes blurred vision.
(4) Talking incoherently or confusingly.
12.Why is it possible that “snoring” is caused by brain tumor?
Growth hormone pituitary tumor causes airway narrowing due to hypertrophy of trachea and tongue body, and causes poor breathing and snoring during sleep, and even wakes up due to lack of oxygen.
13.Why should brain tumor screening be conducted if the person speaks “inappropriately”?
The “non-answer” is often caused by the involvement of the sensory language center of the brain, such as glioma.
14. Should I be concerned about occasional slowness of speech?
Yes, the presence of a tumor in the left frontal lobe, especially a glioma, should be highly suspected.
15.What is the cause of occasional transient dizziness, about half a minute each time?
The first thing to rule out is brain tumor, such as glioma of the insula; secondly, cerebral vascular lesions need to be ruled out.
16.What are the manifestations of visual field defects in life?
Frequent bumping into door frames when going out and bumping into people when walking.
17.What is the typical manifestation of tumor? Why?
It is a typical manifestation of non-functional pituitary tumor, which causes bilateral temporal (lateral) visual field defects due to compression of the optic cross.
18. Should seizures be screened for brain tumors?
It is very necessary, especially in adults with epilepsy, where brain tumors are the leading cause of adult epilepsy.
19. Is involuntary twitching in one of the fingers, upper and lower limbs, toes, face or corners of the mouth caused by a brain tumor?
This is a form of seizure, which is caused by the stimulation of neurons in the motor center of the cerebral cortex, and brain tumor is the main factor leading to this stimulation.
20. Should the localized numbness, pins and needles and electric shock in the above mentioned areas also be considered as brain tumor?
Yes, if the neurons in the sensory center of cerebral cortex are stimulated by tumor, it can cause the above symptoms, so screening for brain tumor should be performed.
21.What kind of tumor often causes the so-called “temporal lobe epilepsy”?
Temporal lobe epilepsy caused by tumors is mainly caused by low-grade gliomas that occur in the medial aspect of the temporal lobe, and the prognosis is better.
22.Why are gynecological symptoms such as menopause and infertility likely to be caused by brain tumors?
Prolactin secretion from pituitary tumor can cause menopause, lactation and infertility, which is very common.
23.Why do “diabetes” and “hypertension” sometimes need to be considered as possible brain tumors?
Growth hormone pituitary tumors can cause diabetes in some patients due to the effect of growth hormone; adrenocorticotropic pituitary tumors can sometimes cause hypertension along with weight gain.
24.Why should men with low sexual function also be screened for brain tumor?
The earliest manifestation of male prolactinomatous pituitary adenoma is hypogonadism, but it is often ignored or delayed by men, so that the tumor is found only when it grows very large, and then it is difficult to cure the tumor.
25.Why patients with low sexual function such as impotence and decreased libido caused by brain tumor are not properly diagnosed and treated for a long time?
This is due to social reasons, one is the lack of knowledge in this area, the other is that they are often too shy to talk about it and consult the doctor, and the third is that they go to the wrong door for consultation and do not consult the neurosurgery department.
26.Tinnitus and hearing loss are the early manifestation of what kind of tumor?
Auditory neuroma.
27.Why is tinnitus the most typical early manifestation of auditory neuroma?
The auditory nerve (snail nerve) in the skull is the most fragile, so tinnitus can be produced at a very small stage of the tumor, even 1-2mm in size.
28.Is it necessary to screen for intracranial tumors if there is hearing loss?
Yes, it is totally necessary, especially the hearing loss on one side.
29.What is the likely cause of ugly face and enlarged hands and feet?
Growth hormone-type pituitary adenoma.
30.Which part of the skull should be highly suspected of the presence of tumor in the skull if the voice becomes hoarse and often choking on water?
A tumor has grown in the jugular foramen area of the skull, which compresses and stimulates the posterior group of nerves that govern swallowing and vocalization and causes the above symptoms.
31.What is the cause of unstable walking in children?
It should be highly suspected that a tumor has grown in the posterior cranial fossa and compressed the cerebellum causing ataxia and balance dysfunction.
32.What is the cause of eye staring to one side, sometimes accompanied by weakness of limbs?
It should be highly suspected that there are lesions in the brainstem, especially brainstem tumors.
33.Why is it easy to mistake memory loss and poor language skills as “Alzheimer’s disease” in the elderly?
Although the above mentioned symptoms may be caused by Alzheimer’s disease, they are more commonly caused by brain tumors, so brain tumors should be routinely screened.