Chapter 16--DO NOT STUDY Flashcards
Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
a wound to the brain that results from a blow to the head, is the most common form of brain damage in people under age 40. TBI commonly results from the head making impact with other objects
what do the brains of people with multiple concussions show?
extensive, diffuse loss of cerebral tissue.
Brain damage from TBI
Trauma can disrupt the brain’s blood supply, induce bleeding (leading to increased intracranial pressure), cause swelling (leading to increased intracranial pressure), expose the brain to infection, and scar brain tissue (the scarred tissue becomes a focus for later epileptic seizures)
Concussion,
the common term for mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI)
what is chronic traumatic encephalopathy characterized by?
neurofibrillary tangles, plaques, and neuronal death. Cerebral atropy and expanded ventricles due to cell loss are typical in advanced cases.
what commonly accompanies TBI?
a loss of consciousness that may be brief (minutes) or prolonged (coma
what does the duration of unconsciousness during TBI tell you?
serves as a measure of the severity of damage, because it correlates directly with mortality, intellectual impairment, and deficits in social skills.
two behavioral effects from TBI
(1) impairment of the specific func- tions mediated by the cortex at the coup (the site of impact) or countercoup (opposite side) lesion (2) more generalized impairments from widespread trauma throughout the brain.
Movement of the hemispheres in relation to one another causes what?
tearing characterized by a loss of complex cognitive functions, including reductions in mental speed, concentration, and overall cognitive efficiency.
Traumatic brain injuries that damage the frontal and temporal lobes also tend to significantly affect what?
personality and social behavior
what is frustrating about TBI?
difficult to diagnose
N-acetylaspartate (NAA),
the second most abundant amino acid in the human brain
NAA &; TBI
People with traumatic brain injuries show a chronic decrease in NAA that correlates with the severity of the injury
chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)
Progressive degenerative disease caused by multiple concussions and other closed-head injuries, characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, plaques, and cerebral atrophy and expanded ventricles due to cell loss.
magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS)
Modification of MRI to identify changes in specific markers of neuronal function; promising for accurate diagnosis of traumatic brain injuries.
how long does recovery from head trauma last?
may continue for 2 to 3 years and longer, but most cognitive recovery occurs in the first 6 to 9 months
recovery of memory symptoms in head trauma
Recovery of memory functions appears to be slower than recovery of general intelligence, and the final level of memory performance is lower than for other cognitive functions.
People with brainstem damage,
as inferred from oculomotor disturbance, have a poorer cognitive outcome, and a poorer outcome is probably true of people with initial dysphasias or hemiparesis as well.
what is significantly reduced after TBI?
quality of life—in social inter- actions, perceived stress levels, and enjoyment of leisure
stroke
an interruption of blood flow from either the blockage of a vessel or bleeding from a vessel.
ischemia
Lack of blood to the brain as a result of stroke.
diaschisis
Neural shock that follows brain damage in which areas connected to the site of damage show a temporary arrest of function.
neuroprotectant
Drug used to try to block the cascade of poststroke neural events.
what happens in the first seconds to minutes after ischemia?
changes begin in the ionic balance of the affected regions, including changes in pH and in the properties of the cell membrane.
stroke & glutamate
Release of massive amounts of glutamate results in prolonged opening of calcium channels in cell membranes.
stroke & calcium channels
Open calcium channels in turn allow toxic levels of calcium to enter the cell, not only producing direct toxic effects but also instigating various second-messenger pathways that can harm neurons. In the ensuing minutes to hours, mRNA is stimulated, altering the production of proteins in the neurons and possibly proving toxic to the cells.
brain swelling & TBI
Brain tissues become inflamed and swollen, threatening the integrity of cells that may be far removed from the stroke site. As in TBI, an energy crisis ensues as mitochondria reduce their production of ATP to produce cerebral energy.
neuronal shock & TBI
A form of neural shock occurs. During this diaschisis, areas distant from the damage are functionally depressed. Thus, not only are localized neural tissue and its function lost but areas related to the damaged region also suffer a sudden withdrawal of excitation or inhibition.
stroke & metabolism
Stroke may also be followed by changes in the metabolism of the injured hemi- sphere, its glucose utilization, or both, which may persist for days. Like diaschisis, these metabolic changes can have severe effects on the functioning of otherwise normal tissue. For example, after a cortical stroke, metabolic rate has been shown to decrease about 25 percent throughout the rest of the hemisphere.
tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA)
clot-busting drug; must be administered within 3 to 5 hours to be effective; ideal treatment is to restore blood flow in blocked vessels before the cascade of nasty events begins.
constraint-induced therapy,
confronts a problem in poststroke recovery related to learned nonuse. For example, stroke patients with motor deficits in a limb often compensate by overusing the intact limb, which in turn leads to increased loss of use in the impaired limb.
what is done in constraint-induced therapy?
the intact limb is held in a sling for several hours per day, forcing the patient to use the impaired limb
what can help augment speech therapy after a left-hemisphere stroke?
music and singing
epilepsy
a person suffers recurrent seizures that register on an electroencephalogram (EEG) associated with disturbances of consciousness; 1 person in 20 experiences at least one seizure in his or her lifetime
what three symptoms are found within the variety of epileptic episodes?
aura, loss of consciousness, seixures
aura
or warning, of impending seizure may take the form of a sensation—an odor or a noise—or may simply be a “feeling” that the seizure is going to occur.
loss of consciousness
ranges from complete collapse in some people to simply staring off into space in others. The period of lost consciousness is often accompanied by amnesia, including forgetting the seizure itself.
seizures
commonly have a motor component, but as noted, the movement characteris- tics vary considerably. Some people shake; others exhibit automatic movements, such as rubbing the hands or chewing.
Jacksonian focal seizures
for example, the at- tack begins with jerking movements in one part of the body—a finger, a toe, or the mouth—and then spreads to adjacent parts
Complex partial seizures
originate most commonly in the tem- poral lobe and somewhat less frequently in the frontal lobe
three common manifestations of Complex partial seizures
Subjective experiences, Automatisms, Postural changes,
subjective experiences in complex partial seizures
for example, forced, repetitive thoughts, alterations in mood, feelings of déjà vu, or hallucinations—before the attack
automatisms in complex partial seizures
repetitive, stereotyped movements such as lip smacking or chewing or activities such as undoing buttons during the attack
postural changes in complex partial seizures
such as when the person assumes a catatonic (frozen) posture, during the attack
symptomatic seizure
Identified with a specific cause, such as infection, trauma, tumor, vascular malformation, toxic chemicals, very high fever, or other neurological disorders.
idiopathic seizure
Appears spontaneously and in the absence of other diseases of the central nervous system.
focal seizure
Seizure that begins locally (at a focus) and then spreads out to adjacent areas.
automatism
Unconscious, repetitive, stereo- typed movement characteristic of seizure.
catatonic posture
Rigid or frozen pose resulting from a psychomotor disturbance.
grand mal seizure
Seizure characterized by loss of consciousness and stereotyped motor activity.
postictal depression
Postseizure state of confusion and reduced affect.
petit mal seizure
Seizure of brief duration, characterized by loss of awareness with no motor activity except for blinking, turning the head, or rolling the eyes.
4 stages of grand mal seizures
- tonic stage (body stiffens and breathing stops) 2. clonic stage (rhythmic shaking) 3. postseizure postictal depression 4. a period of coma after the seizure ends
how long to petit mal seizures last?
typically less than 10 seconds
The treatment of choice for epilepsy
anticonvulsant drugs, including diphenylhy- dantoin (DPH, Dilantin), phenobarbital, or one of about twenty other approved drugs; mainly sedative and anesthetic agents when given in low doses
A major site of action in epilepsy medications
the inhibitory GABAA receptor, which acts on a wide variety of neurons.