Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Sep 22, 2015; 5(3): 273-285
Published online Sep 22, 2015. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v5.i3.273
Psychiatric aspects of brain tumors: A review
Subramoniam Madhusoodanan, Mark Bryan Ting, Tara Farah, Umran Ugur
Subramoniam Madhusoodanan, Department of Psychiatry, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, Far Rockaway, NY 11691, United States
Subramoniam Madhusoodanan, Department of Psychiatry, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203, United States
Mark Bryan Ting, Community Behavioral Health Center, Fresno, CA 93720, United States
Mark Bryan Ting, Bio-Behavioral Medical Clinics, Fresno, CA 93711, United States
Tara Farah, Medical Student IV, Medical University of Lublin, 20-059 Lublin, Poland
Umran Ugur, Medical Student IV, Ross University School of Medicine, Miramar, FL 33027, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors report no financial or other conflicts of interest in connection with this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Subramoniam Madhusoodanan, MD, Associate Chair, Department of Psychiatry, St. John’s Episcopal Hospital, 327 Beach 19th Street, Far Rockaway, NY 11691, United States. sdanan@ehs.org
Telephone: +1-718-8697248 Fax: +1-718-8698532
Received: May 6, 2015
Peer-review started: May 8, 2015
First decision: July 10, 2015
Revised: August 15, 2015
Accepted: September 7, 2015
Article in press: September 8, 2015
Published online: September 22, 2015
Abstract

Infrequently, psychiatric symptoms may be the only manifestation of brain tumors. They may present with mood symptoms, psychosis, memory problems, personality changes, anxiety, or anorexia. Symptoms may be misleading, complicating the clinical picture. A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted regarding reports of brain tumors and psychiatric symptoms from 1956-2014. Search engines used include PubMed, Ovid, Psych Info, MEDLINE, and MedScape. Search terms included psychiatric manifestations/symptoms, brain tumors/neoplasms. Our literature search yielded case reports, case studies, and case series. There are no double blind studies except for post-diagnosis/-surgery studies. Early diagnosis is critical for improved quality of life. Symptoms that suggest work-up with neuroimaging include: new-onset psychosis, mood/memory symptoms, occurrence of new or atypical symptoms, personality changes, and anorexia without body dysmorphic symptoms. This article reviews the existing literature regarding the diagnosis and management of this clinically complex condition.

Keywords: Brain tumors, Psychiatric symptoms, Neuropsychiatric, Behavioral symptoms, Diagnosis, Management, Neuroimaging

Core tip: Psychiatric symptoms may rarely be the only presentation of a brain tumor. Any type of psychiatric symptoms can occur with brain tumors. Unfortunately, the symptoms generally do not have any localizing value. New onset psychosis, mood or memory symptoms, occurrence of new or atypical symptoms, personality changes and anorexia without body dysmorphic symptoms, suggest a work up including neuroimaging. Early diagnosis is critical for improved quality of life for the patient.