Hello and welcome to the Zero to Finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about brain tumors.

If you want to follow along with written notes on this topic, you can follow along at zero definals.com slash brain tumors or in the neurology section of the Zero Definals medicine book.

Let's get straight into it.

Brain tumors are abnormal growths in the brain.

There are many different types of brain tumors

and they vary from benign tumors such as meningiomas

to highly malignant tumors such as glioblastomas.

So how do brain tumorsours present? Well often brain

tumours don't have any symptoms particularly when they're small and as they develop they progress

with focal neurological symptoms depending on the location of the lesion. Brain tumors often present

with signs and symptoms of raised intercranial pressure, but as the tumour grows

within the skull, it takes up space, and this leaves less space for the other contents of the

skull, such as the cerebrospinal fluid, and it leads to a rise in pressure in the intracranial space.

So let's start off with a quick tom tip.

A common exam question asks the location of

the lesion based on the neurology. They often describe a patient that has an unusual change in

personality and behavior and this indicates a tumor in the frontal lobe. Remember that frontal lobe

is responsible for personality and higher level decision making.

So in patients who have an unusual change in personality and behavior, think about a lesion in the frontal lobe.

Let's talk about raised intercranial pressure.

Anything that takes up additional space within the skull will increase the pressure in the intracranial space. Raised

intercranial pressure causes symptoms that can lead to a diagnosis of a brain tumor. Something called

...