A 75-year-old woman, associated with emboli and presents with severe pain in the ear as if bathed in acid. In this case, the likely lesion is at

(C) Thalamus # Hemisensory disturbance with tingling numbness from head to foot is often thalamic in origin but can also be anterior parietal. If abrupt in onset, the lesion is likely to be due to a small stroke (lacunar infarction), particularly if localized to the thalamus. Occasionally, with lesions affecting the VPL nucleus or adjacent white matter, a syndrome of thalamic pain, also called De'jerine-Roussy syndrome, may ensue. This persistent, unrelenting hemipainful state is often described in dramatic terms such as "like the flesh is being torn from my limbs" or "as though that side is bathed in acid."