Symptoms of Brain Tumors in Infants

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Dr. David Hill and today we're going to be talking about symptoms of brain tumors in infants. Now, brain tumors are among the most frightening things just about any parent can think of. The good news is they are quite rare in infants, it's affecting about three in every one hundred thousand. So, it's not something that comes up very often, but there are some things that do make us think about brain tumors when we see them. The most important thing that we measure, pertaining to that, is the infants head size. Whenever your child is born and then when he or she comes in for a regular doctor's visit; a wellness exam. Not only do we check the height or length, in this case, and the weight, we also stretch a tape measure around the head and see how the head is growing. We chart all those things against normal values and sometimes if we notice that the head is growing very rapidly, it can be a sign that there's increased pressure within the head. Now, a lot of things do that. A lot of things can cause the fluid to build up around the brain, but one of those things can be a brain tumor, and often your doctor, if he or she notices that finding, may recommend some sort of imaging like a CT scan or an MRI. Other things that make us think about brain tumors are actually skin findings. There are children with extra numbers of sort of patchy spots on the skin and depending on the number and type of these spots, we think about two conditions; one is called neurofibromatosis, the other is called tuberous sclerosis. These are both genetic conditions, and children with these conditions are at a much increased risk for solid tumors, including tumors of the brain. If there's no familial genetic risk and no increase head sign, there are, head size, there are a few other things we do look at. Anytime a child is increasingly irritable, fussy, won't eat, vomiting, there are dozens of reasons that could be the case, but we do start thinking about cancers anywhere including in the head. One sign that's very specific is called the sundowning sign, where the baby's eyes seem to be driven downward. It's like they can't really go up. That's another sign of increased pressure inside the skull and that makes us worry about brain tumors. Remember, however, brain tumors are very rare in infants affecting only about three per one hundred thousand. Your doctor is going to measure the head size with every wellness exam, and you're going to let your doctor know if you think your infant is not doing well or not right. In that case, we're going to look for all sorts of things, including tumors that may be the cause. Talking about symptoms of brain tumors in infants. I'm Dr. David Hill."