Symptoms of Metastatic Brain Tumors

The symptoms of a metastatic brain tumor are similar to those of a primary tumor, including:

  • Headache
  • Seizures
  • Cognitive or behavioral changes
  • Motor difficulties
  • Pain or weakness in limbs
  • Changes in bowel or bladder function

Some of these symptoms can be subtle than others, and many of these symptoms can occur without a brain tumor. Not everyone who experiences a headache has a brain tumor, of course. But anyone who notices neurological changes or symptoms — especially someone with a history of cancer elsewhere in the body — should have their symptoms evaluated by their oncologist.

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Our Care Team

  • Chair and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief
  • Margaret and Robert J. Hariri, MD ’87, PhD ’87 Professor of Neurological Surgery
  • Vice Provost of Business Affairs and Integration
Phone: 212-746-4684
  • Chief of Neurological Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist
  • Professor, Neurological Surgery
  • Director, Brain Metastases Program
  • Co-director, William Rhodes and Louise Tilzer-Rhodes Center for Glioblastoma
Phone: 212-746-1996 (Manhattan) / 718-780-3070 (Brooklyn)
  • Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery
  • Leon Levy Research Fellow
  • Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute
Phone: 646-962-3389
  • Director, Neurosurgical Radiosurgery
  • Professor of Clinical Neurological Surgery
  • Robert G. Schwager, MD ’67 Education Scholar, Cornell University
Phone: 212-746-2438
  • Chief of Neurological Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Queens
  • Co-director, Weill Cornell Medicine CSF Leak Program
Phone: (718) 670-1837
  • Vice Chair for Clinical Research
  • David and Ursel Barnes Professor of Minimally Invasive Brain Surgery
  • Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Otolaryngology
  • Director, Center for Epilepsy and Pituitary Surgery
  • Co-Director, Surgical Neuro-oncology
Phone: 212-746-5620
  • Assistant Attending Neurologist, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
  • Assistant Professor of Neuro-Oncologist
Phone: 646-962-2185

Reviewed by: Rohan Ramakrishna, MD
Last reviewed: December 2020

Weill Cornell Medicine Neurological Surgery 525 East 68 Street, Box 99 New York, NY 10065 Phone: 866-426-7787