Diseases Of The Nervous System And The Special Senses Flashcards
What causes a glioma, glioblastoma?
Idiopathic
What are the signs and symptoms of glioma, glioblastoma?
Severe headache, personality changes, loss of speech, unsteady movement, seizures, and coma
How do you treat glioma, glioblastoma?
Surgery, chemotherapy, radiation
Is an acute inflammation of the first to meninges that cover the brain and spinal cord: pia mater and the arachnoid mater. Usually affects children and young adults.
Meningitis
What are the signs and symptoms of meningitis?
High fever, chills, severe headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, rash, delirium, convulsions, coma
How do you treat meningitis?
Antibiotics if bacterial infection
Inflammation of the brain and meninges, is caused several types of viruses. Some maybe harbored by wild birds and transmitted to humans by mosquitoes.
Encephalitis
What are the symptoms and signs of encephalitis?
Mild to severe headache, fever, cerebral dysfunction, disordered thought, seizures, persistent drowsiness, delirium, coma
How do you treat encephalitis?
Control fever, fluid, and electrolyte balance, monitor respiratory and kidney function
Commonly called polio, is an infectious disease of the brain and spinal cord caused by an enterovirus. Motor neuron’s are primarily affected. Results in muscle tissue not being stimulated, and then atrophies.
Poliomyelitis
What are the signs and symptoms of poliomyelitis?
Stiff neck, fever, headache, sore throat, G.I. disturbances, paralysis may develop
How do you treat poliomyelitis?
Supportive; preventative vaccination
Is an infectious disease of the brain and spinal cord caused by a virus that is transmitted by secretions of an infected animal.
Rabies
What are the symptoms and signs of rabies?
Fever, pain, mental derangement, rage, convulsions, paralysis, profuse sticky saliva, throat muscle spasms produce hydrophobia
How do you treat rabies?
Vaccination before disease develops; fatal once CNS involved
Is an acute inflammation of sensory neurons caused by the latency of the chickenpox virus, Herpes zoster. May be caused by shingles exposure itself without reactivation of chickenpox virus.
Shingles
What are the signs and symptoms of shingles?
Painful rash of small water blisters with red rim, lesions following a sensory nerve, confined to one side of body, severe itching, scarring
How do you treat shingles?
Alleviation of symptoms and pain relief, steroids
Is a potentially devastating neurological illness sometimes develops children after a viral infection. Use of aspirin during viral infections is associated with this.
Reye’s syndrome
What are the symptoms and signs of Reye’s syndrome?
Persistent vomiting, rash, lethargy about one week after viral infection, made progress to coma; linked with use of aspirin
How do you treat Reye’s syndrome?
Supportive; close monitoring necessary
Pyogenic organisms can travel to the brain from other infected areas and cause this.
Brain abscesses
How do you treat brain abscesses?
Surgical draining of abscess, antibiotics
What are the signs and symptoms of brain abscesses?
Fever, headache, Neutrophils in CSF indicate infection
Is the most common cause of dementia; is a progressive degenerative brain disease.
Alzheimer’s disease
What causes Alzheimer’s disease?
Idiopathic, but genetically connected
What are the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?
Memory loss, moody, indigent
How do you treat Alzheimer’s disease?
Care facilities, medications to stay calm
Is a chronic, progressive, degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Affects young adults between ages 20 and 40.
Multiple sclerosis
What are the symptoms and signs of multiple sclerosis?
Muscle impairment, double vision, nystagmus, loss of balance, poor coordination, tingling and numbing sensation, shaking tremor, muscular weakness, emotional changes, remission and exacerbation
How do you treat multiple sclerosis?
Non-effective; physical therapy and muscle relaxing, steroids, counseling
Known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a chronic, terminal neurological disease noted by a progressive loss of motor neurons and supportive astrocytes.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
What causes ALS?
Idiopathic
What are the signs and symptoms of ALS?
Disturbed motility; fasciculations; atrophy of muscles in hands, forearms, and legs; impaired speech and swallowing; death from pulmonary failure in 3 to 4 years
How do you treat ALS?
Supportive
Is a degenerative disease that affects muscle control and coordination. Normally strikes about age of 45. Cause is still unknown, viruses are detected. Resulting cause related to loss of dopamine in the brain.
Parkinson’s disease
What are the symptoms and signs of Parkinson’s disease?
Tremor, rigid muscles, and loss of reflexes. Mask like facial expression is noticed along with faltering gait and mental depression.
How do you treat Parkinson’s disease?
Administration of levadopamine, the form of the opening similar to the natural form that passes the blood brain barrier are. Does not stop to generation, but reduces symptom severity.
Is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain that results in loss of muscle control. Affects both the mind and the body.
Huntington’s Chorea
What causes Huntington’s Chorea?
Genetics
What are the signs and symptoms Huntington’s Chorea?
Involuntary, rapid, jerky movements; speech loss; difficulty swallowing; personality changes; carelessness; poor judgment; impaired memory; mental incompetence.
How do you treat Huntington’s Chorea?
No cure; genetic counseling for family
Is a group of uncontrolled cerebral discharges that recurs at random intervals. Seizures associated with this are a form of convulsion. Brain impulses are temporarily disturbed, with resultant involuntary convulsive movements.
Epilepsy
What causes epilepsy?
Trauma, chemical, idiopathic
What are the signs and symptoms of epilepsy?
Involuntary contractions or series of contractions; a seizure is a sign of illness, not a disease. Petit mal: brief loss of consciousness, “absence seizure.” Grand mal: often preceded by an aura, total loss of consciousness, generalizes convulsions, hypersalivation; incontinence may occur
How do you treat epilepsy?
Removal of cause once detected; anticonvulsive drugs
A developmental error in which one or more vertebrae fail to fuse, leaving an opening or weakness in the vertebral column.
Spina bifida
What causes spina bifida?
Congenital, lack folate
What are the signs and symptoms of spina bifida?
Opening in vertebral canal; spina bifida occulta
Meninges protrude through opening and full with CSF; meningocele
Nerve elements protrude into sac; meningomyelocele
Neural tube itself fails to close and nerve tissue is totally exposed; myelocele
How do you treat spina bifida?
Surgery, physical therapy
Is a consequence of excess CSF trapped within the brain. This pressure increases and causes ventricles to enlarge and press the brain against the skull, which forces it to enlarge greatly, especially in the case of newborns.
Hydrocephalus
What causes hydrocephalus?
Congenital, idiopathic
What are the symptoms and signs of hydrocephalus?
Enlarged head develops
How do you treat hydrocephalus?
Implant shunt to drain CSF
Is not a disease but a functional disorder of the brain manifested by motor impairment that may induce varying degrees of mental retardation and becomes apparent before age 3.
Cerebral palsy
What causes cerebral palsy?
Birth trauma, rubella infection
What are the signs and symptoms of cerebral palsy?
Seizures, visual or auditory impairment, speech defects. Spastic: muscles tense, reflexes exaggerated. Athetoid: uncontrollable, persistent movements, tremor. Atactic: Poor balance, poor muscular coordination, staggering gait
How do you treat cerebral palsy?
Muscle relaxants, anti-convulsive drugs, casts, braces, traction, surgery, or physical therapy.
What causes cerebrovascular accidents?
Trauma, blood clot, or occlusion
What are the signs and symptoms of cerebrovascular accident?
Severe, sudden headache; muscular weakness or paralysis; disturbance of speech; loss of consciousness
How do you treat cerebrovascular accident?
Clot-dissolving drugs, surgery, endartectomy
Are caused by brief but critical periods of reduced blood flow in a cerebral artery. Thought of as many strokes resulting from blood clots occluding vessels or vessel spasms that interrupt blood flow and thus impair neurological functioning.
Transient ischemic attack (TIA)
What are the symptoms and signs of TIA?
Visual disturbances, transient muscle weakness on one side, sensory loss on one side, slurred speech; attacks last minutes to hours, average 15 minutes
How do you treat TIAs?
Depends on cause; surgical treatment of blocked vessels
Is an viral or bacterial inflammation of the conjunctiva, the superficial covering of the visible sclera and the inner linings of the eyelids.
Conjunctivitis
What are the symptoms and signs of conjunctivitis?
Inflamed eye surface, oozing
How do you treat conjunctivitis?
Ointment or eyedrops
Is an insidious, painless disease that results from pressure building up in the anterior chamber of the eyes or the space in front of the lens. Results from poor aqueous fluid drainage.
Glaucoma
What are the signs and symptoms of glaucoma?
Elevated intraocular pressure, dim vision
How do you treat glaucoma?
Eyedrops
Inflammation of the second layer of that is known as the vascular or pigmented layer and includes ciliary body and the colored part of the eye, the iris.
Uveitis
What are the signs and symptoms of uveitis?
Eye discharge, pain, low vision
How do you treat uveitis?
Corticoids
What are the signs and symptoms of astigmatism?
Blurry vision
How do you treat astigmatism?
Corrective lenses
What are the symptoms and signs of cataracts?
Lens appears cloudy; blurred, dim vision
How do you treat cataracts?
Some laser, lens replacement
What causes macular degeneration?
It is idiopathic
What are the symptoms and signs of macular degeneration?
Central vision is lost
How do you treat macular degeneration?
Nonspecific
What causes diabetic retinopathy?
Diabetes
What are the symptoms and signs of diabetic retinopathy?
Blurred, cloudy vision to blinded
How do you treat diabetic retinopathy?
Some laser, control diabetes and blood pressure
What are the symptoms and signs of retinitis pigmentosa?
Weekend sight gradual blindness
Is a genetic disease either as a recessive or dominant trait on the X-chromosome. Is a rare, progressive retina degeneration that eventually causes blindness.
Retinitis pigmentosa
How do you treat retinitis pigmentosa?
Nonspecific
How do you treat external otitis?
Antibiotics, cleanse area
What causes external otitis?
Infection of either bacteria or fungi
What are the symptoms and signs of external otitis?
pain, pruritus, fever, and temporary hearing loss
What are the symptoms and signs of otitis media?
Pain, edema, pus, and may lead to perforation of eardrum.
How do you treat otitis media?
Drain tube, antibiotics
What causes otitis media?
Bacterial infection mainly affecting infants and children due to weak immune system
What causes Presbycusis?
Increased age
What are the symptoms and signs of Presbycusis?
Hard of hearing
How do you treat Presbycusis?
Hearing aids
Primarily considered idiopathic, some cases initiated by trauma, tumor, or autoimmune disease is that impact the cochlear apparatus whereby fluid and delicate sensory hairs are altered or degenerated.
Ménière’s disease
What are the symptoms and signs of Ménière’s disease?
Intermittent hearing loss, tinnitus, episodes of vertigo or dizziness
What causes tinnitus?
Idiopathic, maybe blood-pressure related, loud sounds
How do you treat Ménière’s disease?
Glucocorticoids, low salt diet to control fluid levels. Surgery may be a later option
What are the signs and symptoms of tinnitus?
Ringing, roaring internal sounds without real sounds externally
What is the treatment of tinnitus?
Sound aids, low sound makers for interference.
Review questions on page 384
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An acute infectious disease, commonly called “lockjaw” characterized by rigid, contracted muscles that are unable to relax.
Tetanus
What causes tetanus?
Caused by the tetanus toxin which is produced by teens bacillus that lives in intestines of animals and humans. The organisms are exerted in fecal material and persists as spores in the soil, and are prevalent in rural areas and garden soil fertilizer containing manure. A laceration, puncture, or animal bite introduces the bacteria into the body where it thrives without oxygen.
What are the symptoms and signs of tetanus?
Muscles become rigid, (jaw muscles are often first affected, often called TRISMUS) the mouth clamps tightly shut, neck is stiff and swallowing becomes difficult. Respiratory muscles can become affected and cause asphyxiation. Death may result.
How do you treat tetanus?
Antitoxin, symptom relief, preventative vaccine
Inflammation of Cranial Nerve VII
Bell’s Palsy
What causes Bell’s Palsy?
Idiopathic, but viruses, autoimmunity, and vascular ischemia are probable factors
What are the symptoms and signs of Bell’s Palsy?
Because the seventh cranial nerve innervates the facial muscles and salivary glands, attacks cause sagging of the facial muscles on one side of the face and a watery eye. Person may drool and have slurred speech.
How do you treat Bell’s Palsy?
Massage or heat treatment may help.
