Medical-surgical Nursing Demystified

CHAPTER 5 Nervous System^223

• Occipital lobe:
  
  
  • Impaired vision—defect in visual fields; patient may deny or be unaware
    of defect
  
  
  • Prosopagnosia (patient is unable to recognize familiar faces)
  
  
  • Change in color perception
  
  
  
  


• Parietal lobe:
  
  
  • Seizures
  
  
  • Sight disturbances result in visual field defect
  
  
  • Sensory loss—unable to identify object placed in hand without looking
  
  
  
  


• Temporal lobe:
  
  
  • Seizures
  
  
  • Taste or smell hallucinations
  
  
  • Auditory hallucinations
  
  
  • Depersonalization
  
  
  • Emotional changes
  
  
  • Visual field defects
  
  
  • Receptive aphasia
  
  
  • Altered perception of music
  
  
  
  

INTERPRETING TEST RESULTS

• MRI with gadolinium (contrast) defines tumor location, size.


• CT scan shows characteristic appearance of meningioma.


• Angiography will show blood flow to the area; some tumors will displace
  vessels as they grow.

TREATMENT

• Chemotherapeutic agents alone or in combination with radiation and surgery.
  May be given orally, intravenously or through an Ommaya reservoir. Drugs
  are chosen based on cell type:
  
  
  • carmustine, lomustine, procarbazine, vincristine, temozolomide, erlotinib,
    gefitinib