Memory loss, personality changes may signal brain decline: Experts
Sneha Richhariya
The next time you suffer persistent memory loss, personality shifts or speech difficulties, do not brush these aside these symptoms as inconsequential. Experts flag these as critical warnings for deteriorating brain health, a growing concern in India.
While a healthy brain enables us to think, feel and make decisions, an unhealthy brain often goes unnoticed.
Nitin Dange, a leading interventional neurologist from Mumbai, highlights coordination issues, recurring headaches, facial asymmetry, memory loss, personality changes and speech difficulties as critical warning signs that should not be ignored.
Speaking to The Tribune on the eve of World Brain Day, which falls on July 22, Dange also flagged the rising prevalence of brain tumours in India as a growing challenge to brain health. He highlighted the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI) in early diagnosis and management, noting that AI tools could hold the key to timely detection and better outcomes. AI-integrated technology enables early diagnosis, precise imaging and accurate tumour localisation, he said.
He emphasised that AI-assisted surgery allows doctors to remove tumours more precisely, reducing the risk of damage to healthy brain tissue. “For non-cancerous tumours, early detection using AI can lead to a complete cure. In malignant cases, AI helps improve treatment strategies, such as optimising the use of chemotherapy and radiation,” he added.
India faces a significant brain health burden. According to the International Association of Cancer Registries (IARC), the country reports over 28,000 brain tumour cases annually, with more than 24,000 deaths. Dange attributed the rising trend to multiple factors, including environmental pollution, lifestyle changes and prolonged exposure to electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices. He noted that this issue is not limited to the elderly, with young adults increasingly at risk.
“Late diagnosis, often due to lack of awareness, remains a significant hurdle in India, delaying timely treatment,” Dange said. Overall, brain health continues to be a serious concern in India. From 1990 to 2013, there was a 44 per cent increase in the burden of mental, neurological and substance use disorders, surpassing several Asian nations.
World Brain Day aims to raise global awareness by combating stigma and promoting the early recognition and treatment of neurological disorders.
A 2024 Nature study showed how machine learning models could non-invasively detect tumour types, predict molecular markers from MRI scans and forecast patient outcomes more accurately than traditional methods.
Vishwanathan Iyer, a Mumbai based neurosurgeon, says one of the most significant future advancements in brain tumour care lies in early diagnosis. “AI systems, once trained on large datasets of CT and MRI scans, can help speed up initial screening, particularly in settings where there is a shortage of radiologists or neurosurgeons,” he said, adding that AI can assist by scanning MRI images and flagging abnormalities, reducing the load on specialists.
However despite its promise, AI in neuro-oncology faces challenges. Sushil Meher, IT Head at AIIMS, New Delhi, warned, “If data is not clean or standardised, predictions may be inaccurate.” He explained that data from urban hospitals may not reflect rural populations, skewing AI models.
Meher also highlighted security risks, such as data poisoning, which could compromise diagnoses. “In healthcare, errors are unacceptable,” he stressed, noting the absence of regulatory approvals and independent evaluations for AI models.
BRAIN TUMOURS
Brain tumours occur when abnormal cells in the brain grow uncontrollably, often triggered by genetic changes, inherited disorders, or radiation exposure and are categorised by their behaviour (non-cancerous or cancerous), their origin (whether they begin in the brain or spread from other organs) and the type of cells involved. WHO grades brain tumours from I to IV, with Grade I being slow-growing and non-cancerous and Grade IV being aggressive and cancerous, like glioblastoma.
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