CT,MRI. Consider biopsy.
Avoid LP (risk of coning)
Treatment
Benign mass: removal if possible,
but may be inaccessible
Malignant mass: Excision if possible then
consider chemo-radiotherapy. If inaccessible just
chemo-radiotherapy. If inaccessible but causing
hydrocephalus try ventriculo-peritneal shunt. Give
prophylaxis for epilepsy, analgesia ie codeine for
headache and give dexamethasone for cerebral
oedema and mannitol if acutely raised ICP. Plan
palliative treatment.
Prognosis
Poor but improving for
gliomas and benign masses
Examples
3rd ventricle colloid cysts
Congenital cysts. Present
in adulthood with amnesia,
headache, obtundation
(blunted consciousness),
incontinence, dim vision,
bilat paraesthesiae, weak
legs, drop attacks.
Investigations: CT
scan/MRI. Treatment:
excision or VP shunt
Present with symptoms of mass
(headache, raised ICP,
papilloedema) but none found.
Typically obese women with blurred
vision +/- diplopia, VIth nerve palsy,
enlarged blind spot if papilloedema
present. Consciousness and
cognition are preserved. Cause:
Often unknown or secondary to
venous sinus thrombosis or drugs ie
tetracycline, nitrofurantoin,
isoretinoin. Treatment: weight loss,
acetazolamide, loop diuretics,
prednisalone (may reverse
papilloedema). Consider optic nerve
sheath fenestration or
lumbar-peritoneal shunt if drugs fail
and visual loss worsens. Prognosis:
often self-limiting, permanent visual
loss in 10%
Localising signs
Temporal lobe: HAPPY-CLAPPY DJ. Hemianopia,
Automatisms, Psychosis, Precognition, Yells and falls
to floor (type of seizure), (or) Complex-partial
seizures, Language disorders, Amnesia, Panic or
rage, Pains ie abdo, You do not believe pts bizarre
story, Déjà vu, Jamais vu.
Frontal lobe: Hemiparesis, motor seizures,
personality change, grasp reflex, Broca’s dysphasia,
concrete thinking, orbitofrontal syndrome (reduced
empathy, inhibition, social skills), utilization
behaviour (whatever is provided is used)
Parietal lobe:
hemisensory loss ie
reduced 2 point
discrimination
Occipital lobe:
contralateral visual
field defects,
hallucinations
Cerebellum: DASHING: Dysdiadochokinesis,
Ataxia (if trunchal ataxia worse on eye closure then
more likely dorsal column pathology), Slurred
speech, Hypotonia, Intention tremor, Nystagmus,
Gait abnormality
Corpus callosum: (rare site for
lesions) intellectual deterioration,
loss of communication between
lobes (eg left hand unable to carry
out verbal commands)