Relationships between brain tumor and optic tract or calcarine fissure are involved in visual field deficits after surgery for brain tumor.
OBJECTIVE
Diffusion tensor tractography provides useful information regarding the surgical strategy for brain tumors. The goal of the present study was to analyze relationships between visual field deficits and the locations of brain tumors compared with optic tracts as visualized by tractography, and compared with the calcarine fissure.


METHODS
Subjects comprised 11 patients with brain tumor in the occipital lobe or atrium of the lateral ventricle who underwent surgery between October 2006 and February 2009. Tumors were categorized as Type A, with almost all the optic tract in the occipital lobe or atrium of the lateral ventricle running close to and stretched by the brain tumor; and Type B, with the optic tract running at least partially distant to the brain tumor and remaining unstretched.


RESULTS
Those type A optic tracts that were laterally compressed by brain tumors (Cases 1-3) displayed hemianopsia after surgery. When the brain tumor was located rostro-medial to the calcarine fissure and optic tracts were compressed caudally by the tumor, lower quadrant hemianopsia remained after surgery (Cases 4, 5). In other cases, the visual field remained or improved to normal after surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
The relationship between optic tracts or the calcarine fissure, and brain tumors in the occipital lobe or atrium of the lateral ventricle is related to visual field deficits after surgery. In particular, those Type A optic tracts that are compressed laterally show hemianopsia of the visual field after surgery.
Shinoura
Nobusada
N
Department of Neurosurgery, Komagome Metropolitan Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8677, Japan. shinoura@cick.jp
Suzuki
Yuichi
Y
Yamada
Ryoji
R
Tabei
Yusuke
Y
Saito
Kuniaki
K
Yagi
Kazuo
K
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001931:Brain Mapping; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D002551:Cerebral Ventricle Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000556:secondary / Q000601:surgery*; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D018303:Ganglioglioma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005909:Glioblastoma / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D006423:Hemianopsia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D020547:Lateral Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009408:Nerve Compression Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*