CINN Medical Group Physician Blog

Brain Tumors in General

Brain tumors are becoming increasingly common. Perhaps it’s because more people are undergoing MR & CT scans of the head for headaches or after traumatic injuries. Perhaps it’s because people are living longer. Possibly it’s because people with cancer are surviving their disease throughout the body only to be stricken by a metastasis to the brain. And then there are the questions of environmental influences like cell phones and sugar substitutes.

At any rate, I thought it would be interesting to talk about brain tumors generally, and in later blogs, more specifically.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, most brain tumors are not discovered in people whose only complaint is headache, though headache can be part of the symptom complex. Brain tumors are usually found in people who present with a neurologic deficit such as visual loss, weakness or paralysis, change of personality or thinking, and loss of sensation to name a few. Brain tumors are also frequently found in people who experience new-onset seizures, both focal and generalized. Brain tumors may be found without symptoms in people who have metastatic cancers, especially those beginning in the lung, breast, colon, kidney and skin (melanoma). These are the cancers that most frequently travel to the brain but by no means the only ones. A significant number of tumors are diagnosed in people who have had a scan for unrelated reasons, such as following a head injury (concussion) or sinus disease. These are described as “incidental” tumors.

Whatever the cause and however they present or are discovered, brain tumors are serious and demand careful medical attention for proper diagnosis, treatment, and follow –up. They are not, however, always or even often, a death sentence.

View a video of Dr. Cerullo talking about Brain Tumors sponsored by The CINN Foundation:

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