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Asked by Ethandodge to RobB, Matt on 13 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by louis.
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Rob Brass answered on 13 Jun 2016:
I only really deal with cancer so I’ll answer about brain tumours!
Normally the patient will have symptoms like headaches, dizziness, sickness or even problems with sight or hearing depending on where in the brain the tumour is. Sometimes though the patient wont have any symptoms and we’ll find it by accident when we’re looking for something else!
Once we suspect there may be a tumour we’ll give them an MRI scan, this lets us look inside their head and see exactly where the tumour is, how big it is, etc. The doctor will then decide on the best course of action: Surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or a combination of these.
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Matt Dunn answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Hi Ethan and louis,
Brain scientist here! It can be quite difficult to tell who has a brain disease, because there are so many types of brain disease that have so many different symptoms.
Most of my work is on Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, and we have several ways of finding out who has these diseases. The first sign is usually movement, because these diseases affect the brain area responsible for planning your movements. A Parkinson’s patient has something called a ‘tremor’, where their hands and sometimes feet will constantly shake. This is sometimes too small to notice, and sometimes the shaking is very serious. Other symptoms include:
– Losing sense of taste (putting lots of spice in food to taste it again)
– Slurred speech (talking isn’t as clear)
– Some activities get much harder (such as tying a shoelace or trying to get dressed)
– Difficult to change direction while walking
– Slower movement
– Handwriting changes (mostly due to shaking)
– Muscles are more rigid than normalThe list goes on and on, but medical doctors have many ways to find out who has which brain disease!
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