brain stem

what happens if a person has unilateral brainstem lesion?sign and symptoms please and are the eefects on same side or contralateral side

[kalikie]

I'm in PT school and actually just finished my Neuroanatomy class.  I hope that this can help some.

There could be lots of S/S for this type of injury.  Most of the symptoms should be contralateral and could be anything from facial numbness/paralysis, loss of taste, inability to swallow, lazy eye, inability for pupil to dilate. There could also be S/S in the rest of the body such as numbness/tingling/paralysis/paraesthesia.  These could be contralateral or unilateral depending on where the lesion occurred in the.  Hope this helps.

brainstem

[DrKalraMD]

Hi, Diseases of the brainstem can result to abnormalities in the function of cranial nerves which may lead to visual disturbances, pupil abnormalities, changes in sensation, muscle weakness, hearing problems, vertigo, swallowing and speech difficulty, voice change, and co-ordination problems.

“The presenting features depend on the size and location of the hemorrhage. Headache and focal brainstem signs are seen in most patients. Headaches are usually associated with vomiting and are more common in women or patients younger than 70 years of age. However, the frequency of headaches is not as common with deep hematomas (brainstem) compared to lobar or cerebellar hemorrhages. Depending on the location of the hemorrhage, the patient may present with diplopia, incoordination, cranial nerve signs, vertigo, dysarthria, hyperthermia, breathing dysfunction, and long-tract signs. With large hemorrhages, especially in patients with hypertension or an underlying vascular malformation, there may be a rapid progression to coma. Intracranial hemorrhage is an important cause of acute neurologic dysfunction and accurate early diagnosis of cortical versus brainstem hemorrhage, with initiation of appropriate therapy, may help to minimize morbidity”. Taken from http://www.medlink.com/medlinkcontent.asp

[tiff65]

I WAS TOLD THAT MY CEREBELLAR TONSILE IS LOWER THAN MOST PEOPLE SHOULD I BE CONCERND AND ALSO I FEEL  A LITTLE OFF BALANCE WHEN I WALK SOMETIMES COULD THIS BE THE PROBLEM