Contents:
- Medical Video: Hemorrhagic Stroke (Brain Hemorrhage)
- What are the symptoms of brain tumor bleeding?
- How to diagnose it?
- What are the treatments?
Medical Video: Hemorrhagic Stroke (Brain Hemorrhage)
Although brain tumors can cause strokes, the symptoms are different from the symptoms of stroke in general. This is because most strokes are caused by blockage of blood flow to the inside of the brain, which affects symptoms that appear suddenly. In contrast, tumors are masses that grow slowly relative to brain tissue, causing symptoms to appear slowly, beyond days, weeks, months, or even years. However, when a brain tumor bleeds, it can cause symptoms that are identical to the bleeding stroke in general.
Hemorrhagic stroke aka bleeding stroke is caused by bleeding from a brain tumor. According to the study, 1-10% of bleeding strokes were caused by intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Common causes of ICH include high blood pressure, amyloid angiopathy, AVM, cavernous malformations, and trauma.
Brain tumors tend to bleed depending on whether it is benign, malignant, primary, or metastatic. Furthermore, certain types of brain tumors have different properties, which make them tend to bleed more often or even less frequently. For example, almost 15% of all pituitary adenomas cause bleeding, while this is rare in meningioma.
What are the symptoms of brain tumor bleeding?
The symptoms of bleeding from a brain tumor depend on the amount of blood entering the brain tissue, and where bleeding occurs. Thus, symptoms can range from simple headaches to life-threatening paralysis. However, this condition is a rare event and the symptoms are usually a headache accompanied by one of the following:
- Squeeze on the face and / or arms, and / or legs on one side of the body
- Numbness in the face, and / or arms, and / or legs on one side of the body
- Talking but difficult to understand
- Inability or difficulty in writing or reading
- Vertigo with or without nausea and vomiting
- Severe headache or double vision
How to diagnose it?
Brain tumor bleeding is usually diagnosed with a CT scan. In this examination, ICH will appear as a bright white area in normal brain tissue which is usually surrounded by dark areas of swelling, which are caused by tumors. This area of swelling helps doctors distinguish ICH-induced brain tumors from other causes such as high blood pressure or AVM. Once there is a suspicion that bleeding is caused by a tumor, doctors usually perform brain MRI with a contrast known as gadolinium, which allows blood vessels to be visualized and reveal the tumor more clearly.
What are the treatments?
Treatment of ICH caused by a brain tumor depends on the amount of blood and the symptoms it causes. Treatment is done to remove blood and tumors at the same time. However, in cases where the amount of bleeding is very small and the patient's symptoms are also not serious (such as a headache), it is uncertain when the operation should be performed. Some doctors recommend lifting the tumor immediately even in mild cases, because some tumors are known to return to bleeding and cause the patient's condition to become critically ill.
