CNS Trauma Flashcards
Red neurons
Cell turn hot pink/less plump when dying. Most commonly found in ischemic areas.
Axonal reaction
Reaction that occurs in the cell body when something happens in the axon.
Cowdry bodies
Large, redness center with halo around it. Basophilic. Common in herpes and zoster.
Negri bodies
Eosinophilic. Common in rabies.
Neurofibrillary tangles
Common in Alzheimer’s.
Lewy bodies
Pink dot. Common in Parkinson’s.
Gemistocytic astrocytes
Astrocytes that look big, pink, and plump.
Inclusion bodies
Rosenthal fibers - Happen in astrocyte processes in areas of long-standing gliosis
Corpora amylacea - Pale blue pearls, apparent in degenerative changes
Microglia nodules
Proliferations around dead tissues
Signs of a basal fracture
Distant hemotomas or CSF drainage due to force of impact.
Concussion - Grade: Second-Impact syndrome: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: Looks like Alzheimer's due to presence of \_\_?
Grade 1: no loss of consciousness, lasts 15 minutes
Grade 3: LOC
Second concussion before first one healed
Second can be fatal due to brain swelling
Brain swells rapidly, catastrophically, due to inability of arterioles to regulate diameter?
Young athletes at greatest risk.
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Progressive degenerative disease of the brain
Athletes/others with repetitive brain trauma
Behavioral/personality symptoms
Tau proteins
Epidural hematoma
Blood above dura
Tear in middle meningeal artery
May have lucid period for 5-60 minutes and then loses consciousness
Neurosurgical emergency
Subdural hematoma
Blood between dura and arachnoid
Shearing of bridging veins
Typical setting: elderly patient falls, seems okay
Acute (hours) or chronic (months)
Ragged contours because arachnoid/pia have more give than dura
Subarachnoid hemorrhage
Blood in subarachnoid space
Contusions, ruptured berry aneurysms
Typical setting: “Worst headache I ever had”
Neurosurgical emergency
Treatment of aneurysm with coils
Often in the circle of Wilis, usually at branch points
