‘Persistent Headache, Sign Of Brain Tumour’

A Consultant Neurosur
geon, Dr Omotayo Ojo,  said that persistent headaches might be a sign of a brain tumour.
Ojo, who works   at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, said this yesterday when he spoke to the press in Lagos.
He defined a brain tumour as any abnormal cell growth that occurs within the brain or in the spinal canal.
“Though the symptoms are there, it is not always easy for regular people to distinguish brain tumours from other illnesses. “Any headache that basic painkillers cannot cure should be a warning for the person to see a doctor,” he said.
Ojo said that headaches, nausea and vomiting caused by a brain tumour could also be mistaken for signs of malaria.
He pointed out that tumour headaches often occurred early in the morning and got better as the day progressed, while regular headaches occurred later on a stressful day.
Ojo urged Nigerians to be aware of the subtle differences in the symptoms in order to ensure a quick diagnosis.
The neurosurgeon that the exact causes of brain tumors were unknown, saying that certain factors increased a person’s risk of getting brain cancer.
“For example, many years ago the treatment for ringworm was an x-ray, but we found that 30 years down the line, patients that got that x-ray had developed brain tumours. “Research also shows that brain tumours run in certain families; so those who are most affected need to be at alert,” he said.
Ojo said brain tumours could also be either benign or malignant, he said that bring brain tumours rarely spread and seldom grew back when removed, while malignant tumours were resistant to therapy and often grow back after surgery.
Ojo said that the commonest form of brain tumour was the kind that started in one location in the body and spread to the brain.
According to Ojo, the prospects of recovery from a brain tumour depended on the type of tumour, the patient’s age and his will to live.
He said that a 20-year-old had a better chance of  recovering than an old man.
He said that, if the tumour could be removed without affecting the surrounding brain tissue, then, surgery would be the first treatment, followed by radiotherapy to target anything left behind.
Ojo urged anyone who had a seizure for the first time as an adult or experienced unexplained weakness or replaced their glasses within few months to see a doctor.