What are the Symptoms and How are Brain Tumors Diagnosed?
Brain tumors may have a variety of symptoms, but none of them is specific. These include: headache • visual symptoms, like the crossing of the eyes or sudden development of a “lazy eye” • gradual loss of movement in an arm or leg • poor balance • an eating disorder • hearing loss • speech difficulty If your child experiences these symptoms, which could be caused by a brain tumor, his or her doctor may order a computed tomographic (CT) scan and/or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. Often, surgery is required to determine whether a brain tumor exists and what type of tumor it is. A small sample of tumor tissue may be surgically removed and examined under a microscope. The diagnosis may be made during the surgical procedure by making a fast frozen tissue section which takes about 20-30 minutes. Sometimes a biopsy is done by making a small hole in the skull and using a needle to extract a sample of the tumor.
