Twenty to 30 percent of patients with breast cancer will develop brain metastasis.
Brain metastasis occurs when a cancer that originates in another part of the body migrates to the brain tissue. Almost any cancer can metastasize, but breast cancer is one of the more likely to metastasize and, per Neurosurgerytoday.org, 20 to 30 percent of patients with breast cancer will develop brain metastasis. When the cancer spreads to the brain, it forms tumors in the tissue that can impair brain function and functions throughout the body. The symptoms vary depending on which part of the brain is affected
Brain Symptoms
As the tumors grow they press against healthy brain tissue, causing an increase in pressure within the skull.
The tumors can cause changes in consciousness, including behavioral and personality changes. The pressure can also cause seizures in people with no history of epilepsy or seizure disorder. There may be changes in cognitive function, including confusion, memory loss and difficulty with word recall.
Motor and Sensory Symptoms
Patients may experience weakness or numbness or paralysis in the extremities, difficulty walking and balance problems. The patient may also experience visual and hearing disturbances, including blurred or double vision and hearing loss. Tumors can also affect the speech areas of the brain, causing slurred speech and other speaking difficulties. If the tumors affect the area of the brain that controls smell, the patient may experience phantom smells, have difficulty identifying smells or lose her sense of smell entirely. Tumors can also affect sense of taste, either by directly affecting the taste center in the brain or by affecting the sense of smell.
Systemic Symptoms
If the tumors infect the part of the brain that controls the endocrine system, it can cause hormonal imbalances and disorders. These hormone imbalances have their own symptoms depending on the system affected. For example, if the tumor causes imbalances in the thyroid system, the patient will exhibit symptoms of hypo- or hyperthyroidism. The tumors can also cause changes in headache patterns, with headaches becoming more frequent or severe, and the headaches may cause nausea or vomiting.
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