Signs & Symptoms
Sensory changes
Sensory changes are altered sensations — such as numbness or tingling — that a glioma can cause by affecting the brain's sensory areas.
In short: Sensory changes
- They are altered sensations like numbness or tingling.
- A glioma can cause them by affecting sensory areas.
- They affect the side opposite the tumor.
- They are focal deficits that warrant evaluation.
What it is
Sensory changes are alterations in sensation — such as numbness, tingling, or a "pins and needles" feeling — that a glioma can cause by affecting the brain's sensory areas or their pathways. Like motor symptoms, they typically affect the side of the body opposite the tumor.
Understanding Sensory changes
Sensation from each side of the body is processed by the opposite side of the brain, mainly in the parietal lobe. A glioma in or near these sensory regions can disrupt the processing of touch, position, or other sensations, causing numbness, tingling, or altered feeling on the opposite side. Sometimes sensory changes are subtle — a reduced ability to feel or localize touch, or a sense that a limb feels "different" — and they may be intermittent if related to seizures arising from a sensory area. Because they can be subtle, sensory changes are sometimes overlooked. They are focal neurological deficits that, especially when new or progressive, warrant evaluation. Treatment of the tumor and rehabilitation can help. Understanding sensory changes in gliomas clarifies altered sensation as a localizing symptom.
Why it matters
Understanding sensory changes helps patients and families recognize altered sensations — numbness or tingling on one side — as a focal symptom of a glioma affecting sensory areas, warranting evaluation.
Common questions
What are sensory changes?
Altered sensations like numbness or tingling.
How can a glioma cause them?
By affecting sensory areas or pathways.
Which side is affected?
The side opposite the tumor.
Bottom line
Sensory changes are altered sensations — such as numbness or tingling — that a glioma can cause by affecting sensory areas, typically opposite the tumor.
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