Basal Ganglia Disorders Flashcards
What are symptoms of Parkinson’s?
Akinesia
Bradykinesia
Resting (pill rolling) tremor
Cogwheel or lead pipe rigidity
Flexed posture
Mask-like facial expression
Festinating gait and impaired balance
What is Akinesia?
Impaired ability to initiate voluntary movement
What is Bradykinesia?
Decreased amplitude and velocity of voluntary movement.
What is a pill rolling tremor?
Slow alternating contraction of distal limb agonists and antagonists more pronounced at rest. Dissipates during sleep.
What is Parkinson’s disease?
Depletion of dopaminergic cells in substantia nigra causing breakdown of Nigrostriatal circuitry.
How is Parkinson’s treated?
L-Dopa administration.
Anticholinergic meds.
Transplantation of human embryonic dopaminergic cells.
Palidotomy and thalamectomies.
What is L-DOPA?
Immediate precursor to dopamine bc dopamine does not cross blood brain barrier.
What is Huntington’s disease?
An autosomal dominant hereditary disease with an insidious onset in fourth or fifth decade of patient’s life. Results from slow degeneration of neurons in striatum.
What are symptoms of Huntington’s disease?
Chorea.
Progressive cognitive deterioration.
Behavioral or psychiatric disturbances.
Prognosis of Huntington’s disease?
Pt’s die 15-20 years after onset.
What is chorea?
Involuntary twitching of extremities and face that progressively worsens and expands
What does progressive cognitive deterioration in Huntington’s disease result in?
Dementia.
Sydenham’s chorea?
Transient (reversible) childhood chorea associated with rheumatic fever and affecting striatum.
What is athetosis?
Degeneration of globus pallidus resulting in slow, sinuous, writhing movements of distal extremities.
What is ballism?
Lesion of subthalamic nucelus (usually caused by small stroke) or its connections results in contra lateral involuntary movements of proximal extremities and trunk.
