Neuroanatomical considerations of isolated hearing loss in thalamic hemorrhage

Background and importance: Thalamic lesions are associated with a wide variety of clinical syndromes. Due to the close anatomic proximity of the nuclei, many of these syndromes have considerable overlap in clinical sequelae and, as such, a lesion affecting only one modality is exceedingly rare. Clin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nitin Agarwal, M.D., John C. Quinn, M.D., Xiao Zhu, B.A., Antonios Mammis, M.D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2016-12-01
Series:Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221475191630055X
Description
Summary:Background and importance: Thalamic lesions are associated with a wide variety of clinical syndromes. Due to the close anatomic proximity of the nuclei, many of these syndromes have considerable overlap in clinical sequelae and, as such, a lesion affecting only one modality is exceedingly rare. Clinical presentation: In this case, a 55 year-old right handed man with a past medical history significant for hypertension, polysubstance abuse, and a 25 year history of seizure disorder following clipping of a middle cerebral artery aneurysm presented with isolated bilateral hearing loss. Conclusion: Presumably, this neurological deficit was caused by a hypertensive hemorrhage in the posterior right thalamus. The following case and discussion will review the potential neuroanatomical pathways that we suggest could make isolated hearing loss be part of a “thalamic syndrome.”
ISSN:2214-7519