People with brain and spinal cord tumors may experience reduced mobility, difficulty speaking, blurred vision, pain, and muscle weakness. Severe cases can easily lead to paralysis, which can be life-threatening if not treated promptly.
Brain and spinal cord tumors are tumors that form in the brain and spinal cord due to the abnormal growth of cells, which is not controlled by the body. This growth in a closed space such as the skull or spinal canal can cause pressure and damage. Nerve cells do not have the ability to regenerate, so after damage can lead to permanent neurological sequelae such as paralysis or complete loss of speech.
To detect brain tumors and spinal cord tumors early, each person needs to proactively identify suspicious symptoms to promptly go for a medical examination.
Signs of a brain tumor usually appear when the tumor is large enough to affect brain function, including headaches that are worse in the morning or with activity, nausea and vomiting, seizures, epilepsy, numbness and weakness in the limbs, difficulty walking, and abnormal movements. Difficulty speaking or understanding what others say, difficulty swallowing, difficulty eating, decreased vision, blurred vision, double vision, hearing loss, and difficulty maintaining balance are also suspicious signs that should not be ignored. Other signs include drowsiness, fatigue, confusion, changes in personality, thinking, memory, behavior, and coma.
Spinal cord tumors often cause back or neck pain that may radiate to the arms or legs, dull, throbbing or burning pain, pain that is worse at night. Paralysis, lack of coordination, often on both sides of the body, difficulty walking, bladder problems such as an unusual need to urinate, inability to urinate or incontinence, constipation. Loss of sensation and movement on the same side of the body as the tumor, loss of pain and temperature sensation on the opposite side of the body.
In some cases, brain or spinal cord tumors can cause serious problems. These cancer-related emergencies require immediate treatment because they can increase pressure inside the skull (intracranial hypertension) and pressure on the spinal cord (spinal cord compression).
A brain tumor surgery using a robot using artificial intelligence at Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Hospital provided
To detect brain tumors early, if there are suspicious signs, you should go for an early examination. Each person should proactively screen for general health and neurological and cranial health 1-2 times a year. Doctors perform neurological health examinations, cranial imaging, angiography, myelography, diffusion tensor imaging, perfusion imaging, biopsy, etc.
At Tam Anh General Hospital System, the number of patients examined and screened for brain tumors and spinal cord tumors is increasing. Modern machinery systems such as 3 Tesla MRI, 768-slice CT, 1975-slice CT using artificial intelligence… help detect very quickly and early even the smallest lesions or abnormalities. From there, doctors make timely and effective diagnoses and treatment regimens with specialized machines such as brain surgery robots, new generation Neuro Navigation nerve positioning, microsurgical glasses with 3D fluorescence imaging function…
Brain tumors and spinal cord tumors can both have serious consequences. Therefore, when there are signs of suspicion, patients should go to a hospital with neurosurgery expertise for early diagnosis and treatment.