Thalamic tumour presenting as frontal lobe dysfunction.
A 64-year-old man presented with a change in personality and behaviour but with no neurological deficits. He exhibited impaired executive functions, apathy, unsteadiness of gait and falling; he lacked insight and exhibited purposeless behaviour, making loud grunting noises. A CT scan at 6 months revealed no abnormality, but at 9 months CT and MRI showed a bilateral thalamic tumour. The presenting symptoms had similarities to frontal lobe dysfunction progressing to dementia.
Nagaratnam
N
N
Aged Care and Rehabilitation Services, Department of Medicine, Blacktown-Mt Druitt Health, New South Wales, Australia.
Ting
A
A
Jolley
D
D
D000368:Aged; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D007029:Hypothalamic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D013786:Thalamic Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods