Emergency Medicine

UMEM Educational Pearls

Search

Title: A Weird and Unusual Symptom

Category: Misc

Posted: 10/24/2011 by Rob Rogers, MD (Updated: 3/3/2026)

Weird and Unusual Symptoms

Bet you didn't know that severe and intense pruritus of the nostrils, known as Wartenberg's symptom, is an uncommon but characteristic symptom of a brain tumor.

Etiologies include astrocytoma, glioblastoma, oligodendroglioma, medulloblastoma, and metastatic tumors.

References

1. Andreev VC, Petkov. Skin manifestations associated with tumors of the brain. Br J Dermatol 1975;92:675

2. Mark Marinella, Pocket Brain of 50 Unusual Symptoms. Blackwell Publishing