Bump On The Back Of The Head, Previous CT Scan Report Normal. Can It Be Tumor?

Posted on Tue, 5 Jun 2012

Question: My 6year old son has a bump on the back side of his head, it is in the back right skull area but still on the Back of the head. He has had it for about 3 weeks now and u can only notice it when his hair is wet or by feeling his head, its raised a little but it sort of streches out over the back right side about an inch and a half. we have a doctor appt. in a couple days for him but was just trying to get some info before we go in. He had a ct scan about a year ago when he hit his head and nothing showed up (in the Front) we are just concerned about a tumor

Answered by Dr. Shiva Kumar R (10 hours later)

Hello,

Thanks for posting your query.

Any lump seen on the back of the head could be due to causes like infection, trauma, cyst, fat deposits, neurofibromas or rarely tumors. If he has hit his head on to a hard surface may be due to small bleed at the site. So I would like to know if your son had any fall in the past 3-4 weeks. Also inform me if he has fever, dermatitis or a dandruff.

His scan done one year back after a hit on the head did not show any features of fracture or hematoma. I feel at this point of time that the swelling is due to either trauma to the head or an infected cyst or a blocked sebaceous gland in the scalp. So do not panic for a brain tumor. Any swelling seen is not a tumor.

In the mean time you can give him pain killer if it is painful. XXXXXXX your physician to confirm the same.

I hope I have answered your query.

I will be available for the follow up queries if any.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Jyoti Patil