bitemporal hemianopsia
Started by chaotic mind
The hypothalmus sits right on top of the optic chiasm. When you compress the optic chiasm, you lose peripheral vision on both sides, and therefore a mass in the hypothalmus would cause bitemporal hemianopsia.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AE6NNEF0Jyk/Tactg1AH7AI/AAAAAAAAABs/K9SHTUaHNfw/s400/hypothalamus.gif
Edit: Just wanted to add that bitemporal hemianopsia is more common with pituitary adenomas. So even though it MAY be possible RARELY with hypothalamic masses, look for pituitary symptoms first (hyper or hypo!).
chaotic, as a resident that has presumably passed step 1 and 2 I would think you would have come across this. Maybe I am mistaken but perhaps you should update your status? I often look at it to see who I am gearing my responses toward.
Survivor DO
Survivor DO
Bitemporal hemianopsia = pituitary adenoma or craniopharyngioma. Yes a hypothalamic lesion can cause it also, but I've only ever seen it asked these two ways in boards questions. In theory anything that compresses the optic chiasm can cause it.
Hi
I posted this because i had come across a question in kaplan qbook which dealt with symptoms of hypopituitarism associated with visual changes and it asked where the lesion was.I marked pituiary and got it wrong -reason being visual changes=hypothalamus and bitemporal hemianopsia =pituitary.
I found the reasoning obscure and so it stayed with me.
while reading rapid review i came across the issue again and wanted to clarify.
As for being a resident and giving step 1-Its a big world out there....almost 200 countries other than USA.So there might be people who are residents and who are prepping for this exam too.
So maybe I am a really stupid resident who just needed a clarification.
Since when is bitemporal hemianopsia not considered a visual change?
