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Brainstem Tumor Symptoms

Tumors can originate anywhere in the body, but those that originate in the brain are known as Gliomas tumors. There are actually five different types of Glimoas (or brain) tumors--and brainstem tumors fall under one of these five types: astrocytomas. Each of the five types (including brainstem tumors) has symptoms that they share, as well as symptoms that differ.

  1. Brain (Gliomas) tumor types

    • The five Gliomas brain tumor types are: astrocytomas (tumors found in the brainstem), glioblastomas (tumors usually covering the entire brain at once), ependymomas (tumors in the brain passageways), oligodendrogliomas (tumors found in the cerebrum, the main part of the brain), and mixed gliomas (tumors that can generally be found located anywhere in the brain, but does not cover all the brain at once like glioblastomas tumors do).

    General Gliomas (brain) tumor symptoms

    • Problems with hearing and vision (double, blurred or peripheral), difficulties with speech and balance, headache issues (changes to old headache patterns, new emerging ones, greater severity or frequency), unexplainable nausea, vomiting, seizures, personality changes or behavior and even hormonal changes are symptoms of all Glimas (brain) tumors, including those in the brainstem.

    Astrocytomas (brainstem) symptoms

    • In addition to the symptoms mentioned above that are common to all brain tumors, brainstem tumors can also have these symptoms as well: difficulty in swallowing and/or chewing, a drooping of the face ( one side only, usually), and possible problems with walking, using the arms or even closing the eyelids due to muscles weakness.

    Symptom duration for the lowest part of the brainstem tumors

    • While dramatic improvements in symptoms are usually experienced after a six-week course of radiation for pontine glioma (tumors in the lowest part of the brainstem), a recurrence of symptoms normally occurs less than a year later. And, unfortunately, the prognosis is not good, since surgery is impossible for tumors in this location of the brain.

    Symptom duration for midbrain brainstem tumors

    • Symptom duration is lessened and overall prognosis is much better (65 to 90 percent) for brainstem tumors located in the midbrain section when treated with radiation compared to those in the lower brainstem area (pontine).

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