Two years ago, Monique was first diagnosed with lung cancer. Doctors felt they caught the cancer fairly early, though, and performed surgery to remove the tumor. Unfortunately, at a recent series of checkups with her oncologist, Monique found out her lung cancer had returned and had spread to her brain. The doctor said she has a small tumor in the right side of her brain that, if left unchecked, will eventually put pressure in the areas between her right occipital and temporal lobes. That pressure would impair function in those areas of her brain. Despite all this, the doctor is still somewhat optimistic. She said she would consider some chemotherapies (anticancer drugs injected intravenously into the blood) for the recurrent lung cancer. However, she said the brain tumor is a bit trickier to treat as there are few chemotherapies that can effectively reach brain tumors. Monique might therefore need to have the brain tumor removed surgically.
Questions
1. What functional regions of Monique’s cerebral cortex are likely to be affected by the brain tumor?
2. What specific symptoms do you predict Monique will exhibit if her tumor enlarges?