World Brain Tumour Day: Can brain tumour cause depression, personality changes?

World Brain Tumour Day is celebrated every year on June 8 around the world to raise awareness and educate people about brain tumours. All you want to know.

World Brain Tumour Day: An abnormal cell growth or mass in the brain, brain tumour isn't necessarily cancerous and some can be benign or non-cancerous too. Every brain tumour is different and the signs and symptoms of brain tumour can differ depending upon its size, location and the pace of development. Common symptoms include severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, blurry vision, speech difficulties, to hearing issues. World Brain Tumour Day is celebrated every year on June 8 around the world to raise awareness and educate people about brain tumours. In India, the rate of central nervous system (CNS) cancers varies between 5 and 10 per 100,000 people with an increasing trend and accounts for 2% of malignancies. (Also read: Children age 0-3 months with brain tumours shows five-year survival: Study)

World Brain Tumour Day: All you want to know about brain tumour (Pixabay)

Can brain tumour cause depression, personality changes?

Psychiatric manifestations in brain tumours as initial symptoms are rare but sometimes could be only manifestation.

"They might present with personality changes, anxiety, acute psychosis, memory problems, mood fluctuations or anorexia. Unfortunately, majority of these symptoms are nonspecific and cannot help in pin pointing a tumour," Dr Shivaram Rao K , Consultant Neuro Physician, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad told HT Digital.

"Most common of all these symptoms is depression and can seen in almost 44% of brain tumours. Various studies have showed that upto almost 78% of brain tumours have psychiatric symptoms but only about 18% have them as their first clinical manifestation. Any sudden change in daily routine with above symptoms warrants a thorough investigation including neuro imaging because early diagnosis is important for a good quality of life," adds Dr Shivaram.

Dr Ganesh Veerabhadraiah, Senior Consultant Brain & Spine, Neuroendovascular Surgery, Fortis Hospital, Cunningham Road, Bangalore talks about common symptoms, causes, diagnosis and treatment of brain tumour.

Common symptoms

• Prolonged severe headaches

• Unexplained nausea or vomiting

• Blurry/double or loss of peripheral vision

• Loss of feeling or mobility in an arm or leg

• Challenges maintaining equilibrium

• Speech difficulties

• Personality or conduct transformations

• Seizures

• Hearing issues

Causes of brain tumour

Studies have found a relationship between high doses of ionizing radiation and an increased risk of brain cancer. Medical imaging tests (CT scans, X-rays), radiation therapy treatments, and probable workplace exposure are the most prevalent sources of ionizing radiation.

Other variables that may contribute to the development of brain cancer include:

• Increased age

• Family history of brain cancer

• Prolonged smoking

• Insecticides, herbicides, and fertilizer exposure

• Working with cancer-causing substances such as lead, plastic, rubber, petroleum, and certain fabrics

• Having mononucleosis or an Epstein-Barr virus infection

Cancer that starts in another part of the body and travels to the brain

Secondary (metastatic) brain tumours develop when cancer metastasizes from another part of the body to the brain and is the initial evidence of cancer. People with a history of cancer are more likely to develop secondary brain tumours.

Any cancer can spread to the brain; however, breast, colon, kidney, melanoma, and lung cancers are the most common.

Diagnosis

Diagnosing techniques used to detect a brain tumour

• CT Scan – to screen the brain

• MRI SCAN – to know the exact location and spread

• MR Spectroscopy – to understand its nature

• PET scan – to know the secondaries

• Angiogram – to see the brain vessels

• Biopsy

Treatment options for a brain tumour:

• Surgery: Craniotomy, and excision of brain tumour removes a portion of the skull to excise or debunk the tumour, and to take off the pressure effect on the adjacent brain and vital structures, e.g., excision of meningioma, schwannoma, pituitary tumours, or a few noncancerous brain tumours, to provide patients with better outcomes and increase their survival rates post excision.

• Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays or other particles to eliminate tumour cells and can be used to delay or stop tumour growth.

• Chemotherapy is the use of medications to kill tumour cells by preventing them from growing, dividing, and producing new ones and consists of a defined number of cycles administered over a certain length of time in a single dose or a mixture of drugs at the same time.

• Targeted Therapy, in addition to traditional chemotherapy, targets the tumour's specific genes, proteins, or the tissue environment that contributes to the tumour's development and survival.

• Radiofrequency tumour treating fields (TTF) to treat glioblastoma by sending mild electrical fields and disrupting the cancer cells’ ability to grow and divide.

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