Chapter 17 Imaging the Brain

Question 1

lesion

Answer 1

the general term used to denote an injury to, or other abnormality in, the body

Question 2

stroke

Answer 2

occurs when there is a disturbance in blood flow to a region of the brain sufficient to produce a loss of function; two immediate causes:

1) blockage of blood, occurs when particulate matter becomes lodged in a blood vessel
2) hemorrhage, occurs when a blood vessel breaks and leaks blood into the surrounding tissue, often occurs at places where there is weakness in the structure of the blood vessel

Question 3

tumor

Answer 3

an anomalous, abnormal proliferation of cells in the brain (may be either benign or malignant)

Question 4

closed traumatic injury

Answer 4

occurs when there is a whack of some kind to the head or even a sudden powerful acceleration or deceleration; integrity of the skull is not broken and the brain is not penetrated from the outside; sometimes called a concussion; most common type of head injury

Question 5

penetrating traumatic injury

Answer 5

integrity of the skull is compromised and then the brain comes into direct contact with an external agent of damage

Question 6

disease in the brain

Answer 6

certain diseases are associated with identifiable lesions in the brain

Question 7

Parkinson’s disease

Answer 7

a neurodegenerative condition characterized by slowness and difficulty with movement; associated with neuronal death in a specific region of the brain (substantia nigra)

Question 8

static/structural brain imaging

Answer 8

taking pictures of the structure of the brain

Question 9

x-ray imaging

Answer 9

uses electromagnetic radiation (which has higher energy than visible or ultraviolet light) to take photographs of the interior of a living body; bone is less permeable to x rays than the surrounding tissue so it is most easy to visualize the skeletal structure inside a body and detect that location and nature of damage; may permit a brain lesion to be seen, but is limited in its ability to located the lesion; can increase precision by taking pictures from different angles and combining them; not benign, high energy is damaging to any molecules they encounter

Question 10

computed axial tomography (CAT, CT)

Answer 10

a sophisticated x-ray imaging process that generates a three-dimensional representation of the brain’s internal structure; may be used to visualize not only the brain but just about any internal body structure and are widely used as an aid to diagnosis in clinical medicine

Question 11

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Answer 11

method of structural brain imaging that uses the power of computers to manipulate large quantities of information; can produce a three-dimensional reconstruction of the internal structure of a living brain or other parts of the body; introduced to medicine in 1982; does not use x-rays to penetrate the skull or other tissue (based on a mysterious physical phenomenon called quantum spin)