CNS disease Flashcards
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
A progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects short-term memory and loss of cognition and other brain functions
What will you see in an Alzheimer’s disease brain?
- Cortex shrivels up
- ventricles fill w CSF
- Hippocampus shrinks severely
Clinical features of Alzheimer’s disease
memory loss
aphasia
apraxia
agnosia
disorientation
depression, psychotic symptoms
motor hyperactivity
inability to take care of itself
what would you do when a patient comes in suspect dementia?
- History taking
- physical examination & blood and urine test
- cognitive testing:
the 10-point cognitive screener (10-CS)
the 6-item cognitive impairment test (6CIT)
the 6-item screener
the Memory Impairment Screen (MIS)
the Mini-Cog
Test Your Memory (TYM).
When do you refer the person to a specialist dementia diagnostic service?
- susception of dementia
- reversible causes of cognitive decline
investigation of Alzheimer’s disease
- FDG-PET (fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography-CT)
- Perfusion SPECT (single‑photon emission CT) if FDG-PET is unavailable
- Cerebrospinal fluid for total tau and phosphorylated-tau 181
what drugs would you give to patient that have Alzheimer’s disease
Acetylcholinesterase (AChE)
- donepezil
- galantamine
- rivastigmine
what medication would be advice to give to patient with moderate-severe Alzheimer’s disease
Memantine
How would you usually assess headaches?
- Subjective data: patient’s report and understanding of the headache
possible causes and precipitating factors
what measure relieve or worse
characteristics - Objective data: behaviours indicating stress, anxiety, or pain; changes ability to carry out activities of daily living, increased body temperature, sinus drainage.
What are the 3 primary headaches?
migraine
tension-type
cluster headaches
What is tension-type headache?
Recurrent episodes of headache lasting from 30 minutes to 7 days
- bilateral location
- band-like pressure and tightening
mild/moderate intensity
- doesn’t aggravate by routine physical activity
treatment for tension headaches
acute - aspirin, paracetamol / NSAID
prophylaxis - acupuncture, drug prophylaxis w amitriptyline 10mg
Migraine
- symptoms
- factors that can triggers it?
- types of migraine
- What is hemiplegic migraine
- treatment
- prophylaxis
- mostly unilateral, moderate-severe intensity, pounding / throbbing, photophobia, phonophobia, osmophobia, aura, nausea & vomiting
- stress, bright lights, smells, certain foods, dehydration, menstruation, disrupted sleep, trauma
- Migraine with aura, migraine without aura, silent migraine, hemiplegic migraine
- migraines with unilateral limb weakness, ataxia (loss of coordination & impaired consciousness; can mimic a stroke / TIA
- NSAIDs (ibuprofen/naproxen), paracetamol, triptans (sumatriptan), antiemetics (metoclopramide, domperidone)
- propranolol, amitriptyline, topiramate
what is aura
list some examples
visual changes that affect vision, sensation / language
Sparks in the vision
Blurred vision
Lines across the vision
Loss of visual fields (e.g., scotoma)
What is cluster headaches?
At least five attacks of severe or very severe unilateral orbital, supraorbital, and/or temporal pain lasting 15–180 minutes
- Conjunctival injection and/or lacrimation.
- Nasal congestion and/or rhinorrhoea.
- Eyelid swelling.
Forehead and facial sweating.
- Forehead and facial flushing.
- Sensation of fullness in the ear.
- Miosis (excessive pupillary constriction) and/or ptosis
How would you manage cluster headaches?
Need to refer to a specialist
triptan for an acute attack
* Sumatriptan SC — initially 6 mg for one dose.
* Sumatriptan intranasal spray (adults aged 18–65 years) — initially 10–20 mg
* Offer short-burst oxygen therapy for acute attacks.
Symptoms of brain tumours that need to be aware of
- headaches
- seizures (fits)
- persistently feeling sick (nausea), being sick (vomiting) and drowsiness
- mental or behavioural changes, such as memory problems or changes in personality
- progressive weakness orparalysison one side of the body
- vision or speech problems
what is a thunderclap headache, and what does this symptom indicate?
Acute onset headache that reaches maximum intensity within 5 min
this can indicate a
- Subarachnoidhaemorrhage (SAH)
- intracranial haemorrhage
- venous sinus thrombosis
- arterial dissection
what would you do if patient have a thunderclap headache?
Urgent CT head within 6 hours of presentation.
if more than 6hours A lumbar puncture will be performed
What is a subarachnoid haemorrhage?
rupture of a cerebral aneurysm that’s caused by trauma
rare condition
What’s an epidural haematoma (EDH)
When blood accumulates between the skull and the dura mater, the thick membrane covering the brain
Where does the subarachnoid haemorrhage occur?
Blood collects between the arachnoid mater and pia mater
the three triads of meningism
photophobia
Neck stiffness
Headache
symptoms of meningism
Fever.
Vomiting/nausea.
Lethargy.
Irritability/unsettled behaviour.
Ill appearance.
Refusing food/drink.
Headache.
Muscle ache/joint pain.
Respiratory symptoms/signs or breathing difficulty
what is meningitis
Inflammation of the two inner meninges (the pia and arachnoid mater) of the brain and spinal cord.
what’s meningitis causes by?
Neisseria meningitidis (most common)
Streptococcus pdneumoniae(pneumococcus)
Haemophilus influenzaetype b
what are the symtoms of meningitis
Fever
neck stiffness
vomiting
headache
photophobia
altered consciousness
seizures
What are the conditions when you assess for meningitis and see non-blanching rashes on the legs?
Septicaemia (basically sepsis) and need sepsis 6
What are the 2 signs that confirm the diagnosis of meningitis? explain them as well
Kerning sign - there’s resistance when you try to extend the leg on 90 degree
and
Brudzinski sign - when till the head on flat position the legs will contract and bend as well
diagnosis of meningitis
Lumbar puncture
blood test and blood cultures
CT head
features of lumbar puncture in viral meningitis
clear and colourless
normal / raised pressure and protein
WBC - 10-300
predominant cell - lymphocytes
glucose - normal
features of lumbar puncture in bacterial meningitis
turbid appearance
raised opening pressure
raised protein
WBC - 100-5000
Predominant cell - neutrophils
glucose - normal / reduced
features of lumbar puncture in fungal meningitis
cloudy appearance
raised opening pressure
raised protein
WBC - 10-200
Predominant cell - lymphocytes
glucose - reduced
features of lumbar puncture in TB meningitis
cloudy appearance
raised opening pressure
raised protein
WBC - 100-500
Predominant cell - lymphocytes
glucose - reduced
Management on meningitis
IM/IV benzylpenicillin (1200mg fo adult; 600mg for child but start of 300mg)
dexamethasone (steriod)
What is encephalitis
Inflammation of the brain parenchyma associated with neurological dysfunction
viruses are the leading cause of encephalitis
herpes virus being the most common group of viruses
symptoms of encephalitis
- an altered state of consciousness
- seizures
- personality changes
- cranial nerve palsies
- speech problems
- motor and sensory deficits
What are the examples of focal neurological signs/symptoms?
- Unilateral weakness or sensory loss.
- Dysphasia.
- Ataxia, vertigo, or loss of balance.
- Syncope.
- Sudden transient loss of vision in one eye (amaurosis fugax), diplopia, or homonymous hemianopia.
- Cranial nerve defects.