COma

Question 1

consciousness depends on 2 things:

Answer 1

arousal (intact ascending reticular activating system)

Awareness of environment (functioning cerebral cortex of both hemispheres)

Question 2

what does the reticular activating system do?

Answer 2

acts as an alerting or awakening element of consciousness

Question 3

name some causes of a reduced GCS

Answer 3

hypoxia/hypotension/sepsis

drug intoxication

hypoglycaemia/ketoacidosis

seizures

damage to reticular activating system

raised intracranial pressure (tumour/stroke etc)

Question 4

persistent vegetative state

Answer 4

state in which the brain stem recovers to a considerable extent - but there is no cortical function

Question 5

the locked in syndrome

Answer 5

patient has total paralysis below the level of the 3rd nerve nuclei

Question 6

Glasgow coma scale

eye opening

Answer 6

Spontaneous - 4

to speech - 3

to pain - 2

none - 1

Question 7

Glasgow coma scale

best verbal response

Answer 7

orientated - 5

confused - 4

inappropriate words - 3

incomprehensible sounds - 2

none - 1

Question 8

Glasgow coma scale

best motor response

Answer 8

obeying commands - 6

localising to pain - 5

withdrawing from pain - 4

flexing to pain - 3

extending to pain - 2

none - 1