Symptoms of Meningioma

Meningiomas don’t always cause any symptoms at all — many are discovered incidentally, during an MRI or CT scan done for another reason (such as after an injury or accident). If the tumor is not causing symptoms and does not show signs of growth on a follow-up scan, it may not need to be treated at all.

When a meningioma does cause symptoms, the location of the tumor affects what those symptoms are. Since the symptoms usually become apparent when the meningioma presses against the brain, nerves, and blood vessels below it, the symptoms can vary depending on what brain structures are being compressed.  Depending on its location, a meningioma may cause:

  • Headache
  • Nausea
  • Seizures
  • Weakness or numbness in the limbs or face
  • Visual problems
  • Changes in mood or personality

Most people with headaches and nausea do not have brain tumors, of course, but anyone with neurological symptoms like those listed above should be evaluated by a physician. Suspected or confirmed brain tumors should be referred to a neurosurgeon for evaluation (see Doctors Who Treat Meningioma).

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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
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)
  • Chief of Neurological Surgery, NewYork-Presbyterian Queens
  • Professor of Clinical Neurological Surgery
  • Co-director, Weill Cornell Medicine CSF Leak Program
Phone: (718) 670-1837
  • Director, Neurosurgical Radiosurgery
  • Professor of Clinical Neurological Surgery
Phone: 212-746-2438
  • Professor of Radiology in Neurological Surgery
Phone: 212-746-4998
  • Assistant Attending Neurologist, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
  • Assistant Professor of Neuro-Oncologist
Phone: 646-962-2185

Reviewed by: Rohan Ramakrishna, MD
Last reviewed/last updated: August 2024

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