The end in sight: a look at the occipital lobe

The occipital lobe is the endpoint of the visual pathway and the part which is most fully concerned with vision. This paper will first describe the anatomy of the occipital lobe including functions of cell types, topographical retinal representation, and vascular supply. A detailed discussion of the clinical manifestations of occipital lobe lesions including patient symptoms, visual field defects, and visual recognition defects will follow. Finally, the evaluation of patients with suspected occipital lobe lesions will be discussed with a case example presented to illustrate the relationship between occipital lobe function and clinical practice.