brain stem lesion

[mom2fourgirls]

I hope a Doctor can tell me what a small lesion on the brain stem with systems like fatigue and weakness could be a sign of? I seen a neuroligst today and he wants me to come back tommorow for a spinal tap Please tell me what this could be a sign of.
                                                                                       mom2fourgirls

[Char0]

My mother was 90 years old 02/09 she started having trigeminol neurolgia pains approximately 01/08.  At first the "lightening strikes", as she calls them, were only occasional.  In 12/08 the strikes were very frequent and she was taken to the emergency room.  The doctor put her on oxycodone and morphine which kept her heavily sedated.  She had an MRI and the neurosurgeon told us she has a lesion on the brain stem.  He said because of her age he could not do the major surgery to cure the problem but he was willing to do an rhizotomy procedure.  He performed this procedure 02/09 which worked immediately and she was pain free until 07/09 when the strikes came back with a vengeance.  The strikes were constant -- she went back to the emergency room and the doctor put her back on oxycodine and morphine again.  She was kept heavily sedated.  Her neurosurgeon told us again, he could not cure the problem but he was willing to do another rhizotomy again which was done 8/20/09.  She is still having occasional strikes and she is still on oxycodone and morphine.  Is there anything else we can do for her?  Char in AZ

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

The possibilities are various. The lesion could be an infarct, which is an area of dead cells due to loss of blood supply. In Diabetes, we may get such a lesion.

Another possibility is a lesion due to bleeding at the brainstem. There could be various causes for the bleeding, like high blood pressure, infection and diabetes.

These are only the two possibilities that I have mentioned. Depending upon your symptoms, there can be other possibilities also.

Regards

Regards