Neurosurgeon and Patient :: Neurology Medical Health Essays

Neurosurgeon and Patient Brain injury is an unexpected and complex disability. The brain can be damaged in many ways: as a result of an accident, a stroke, alcohol or drug abuse, tumors, poisoning, infection and disease, hemorrhage, near drowning, AIDS, and a number of other things such as Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease. The human brain is one of the most vital and complex organs in the human body. It is where we store our thoughts, feelings and all of our learned behavior. The parietal lobe is the lobe of the cerebral cortex that is at the top of the brain, which processes information in reference to touch, taste, pressure, pain, and heat and cold. The parietal lobes can be divided into two functional regions. One involves sensation and perception and the other is concerned with integrating sensory input, primarily with the visual system. The first function integrates sensory information to form a single precept (cognition). The second function constructs a spatial coordinate system to represent the world around us. Individuals with damage to the parietal lobes often show striking deficits, such as abnormalities in body image and spatial relations (Kandel, Schwartz & Jessel, 1991).Damage to the left parietal lobe can result in what is known as "Gerstmann's Syndrome." This syndrome’s effects include right- left confusion, difficulty with writing (agraphia) and difficulty with mathematics (acalculia). It can also yield disorders of language (aphasia) and the inability to perceive objects normally (agnosia). Damage to the right parietal lobe can result in neglecting part of the body or space (contralateral neglect), which can impair many self-care skills such as dressing and washing. Right side damage can also cause difficulty in making things (constructional apraxia), denial of deficits (anosagnosia) and drawing ability. (Kimura,D.1977) Bi- lateral damage (large lesions to both sides) can cause "Balint's Syndrome," a visual attention and motor syndrome. This is characterized by the inability to voluntarily control the gaze (ocular apraxia), inability to integrate components of a visual scene (simultanagnosia), and the inability to accurately reach for an object with visual guidance (optic ataxia). Special deficits (primarily to memory and personality) can occur if there is damage to the area between the parietal and temporal lobes. Left parietal-temporal lesions can effect verbal memory and the ability to recall strings of digits (Warrington & Weiskrantz, 1977reland et al.