Page "Brain tumor" Paragraph 6

* Dysfunction: depending on the tumor location and the damage it may have caused to surrounding brain structures, either through compression or infiltration, any type of focal neurologic symptoms may occur, such as cognitive and behavioral impairment ( including impaired judgment, memory loss, lack of recognition, spatial orientation disorders ), personality or emotional changes, hemiparesis, hypoesthesia, aphasia, ataxia, visual field impairment, impaired sense of smell, impaired hearing, facial paralysis, double vision, dizziness, but more severe symptoms might occur too such as: paralysis on one side of the body hemiplegia or impairment to swallow.

These symptoms are not specific for brain tumors — they may be caused by a large variety of neurologic conditions ( e. g. stroke, traumatic brain injury ).

What counts, however, is the location of the lesion and the functional systems ( e. g. motor, sensory, visual, etc.

) it affects.

A bilateral temporal visual field defect ( bitemporal hemianopia — due to compression of the optic chiasm ), often associated with endocrine dysfunction — either hypopituitarism or hyperproduction of pituitary hormones and hyperprolactinemia is suggestive of a pituitary tumor.