Herniation & Coma Flashcards
What are the 4 main categories of Cognitive Disorders
Delirium
Dementia
Mild Cognitive Impairment
Static Encephalopathy
Type of Cognitive Disorder; memory loss WORSE than normal age-related decline but patients have NO functional impairment, and therefore don’t meet the criteria for dementia
Mild Cognitive Impairment
Type of Cognitive Disorder; ACUTE alteration of mental status characterized by abnormal and fluctuating attention; can also have confusion, illusions and hallucinations
Delirium
Delirium is a (symptom/disease)
Symptom, thus you form a differential from it (drugs, metabolic disorder, infection, etc.)
Differential Diagnosis for Delirium
Metabolic disorders Drugs Infections Neurologic (stroke, tumor, etc.) Perioperative (hypoxia, hypotension, etc.)
Delirium in (old/young) patients is usually due to medications, infection or metabolic disturbances
Old
Delirium in (old/young) patients is usually due to drug or alcohol intoxication/withdrawal
Young
What are some tests/procedures you would do to help diagnose a cause of Delirium (remember, a SYMPTOM not a disease)
Neuro exam Medication History Electrolytes, Renal and Liver function CBC Thyroid and B12 ECG CXR Pulse ox Head CT (then LP or EEG or MRI)
Type of Cognitive Disorder; an ACQUIRED, persistent and PROGRESSIVE impairment in intellectual function in multiple cognitive domains, usually memory
Dementia
Type of Neurodegenerative Dementia (3 total)
Alzheimer's Parkinson's Frontotemporal ("Pick's Disease") Lewy Body Dementia ALS Huntington's Friedrich's Ataxia
What is the central pathology for Neurodegenerative Diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc.)
Deposition of abnormal proteins (amyloid, tau, alpha synuclein)
Which protein is associated with Alzheimer’s Dementia
B-amyloid
Which protein is associated with Frontotemporal Dementia (“Pick’s Disease”) and also Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
Tau
Which protein is associated with Lewy Body Dementia
Synuclein
Type of Cognitive Disorder; Neurodegenerative Dementia; MOST COMMON; short term memory loss with many cortical deficits (language, praxis, etc.); atrophy of most lobes of the brain (Occipital usually spared); deposition of “senile plaques” of B-amyloid and neurofibrillary tangles
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease affects (men/women) twice as much
Women
Alzheimer’s Disease usually involves atrophy of all cerebral lobes EXCEPT…
Occipital (usually spared)
Type of Cognitive Disorder; Neurodegenerative Dementia; ASYMMETRIC atrophy of Frontal and Temporal lobes with marked early PERSONALITY CHANGE; see Tau-positive bodies and ballooned neurons with dissolution of chromatin
Frontotemporal Dementia (aka “Pick’s Disease”)
Histological finding for Frontotemporal Dementia (aka “Pick’s Disease”)
Pick bodies with Tau-positive stain
Ballooned neurons with dissolution of chromatin
What is Frontotemporal Dementia also known as?
Pick’s disease
In Pick’s Disease, aka Frontotemporal Dementia, atrophy is (symmetric/asymmetric) and the (occipital/parietal) lobe is usually spared
Asymmetric; Parietal
*Alzheimer’s disease is symmetric and spares occipital
Type of Cognitive Disorder; Neurodegenerative Dementia; SECOND most common cause of dementia; cognitive impairment, stiffness and slowness often with visual hallucinations; brain is NOT as atrophic, but has SYNUCLEIN proteinopathy and shows Lewy bodies in cortex, limbic system and brainstem
Lewy Body Dementia
Types of NON-degenerative Dementia
Vascular
Alcoholic
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Type of Cognitive Disorder; NON-Degenerative Dementia; step-wise progression of deficits caused by CVD such as numerous microinfarcts
Vascular Dementia
Type of Cognitive Disorder; NON-Degenerative Dementia; due to the direct toxicity of chronic alcohol exposures to neurons; associated with Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome (thiamine deficiency)
Alcoholic Dementia
Encephalopathy associated with chronic alcohol consumption resulting in thiamine deficiency; will experience confusion, ophthalmoplegia (paralysis of eyes) and gait ataxia along with CONFABULATIONS (due to memory disorder); ALWAYS involves lesions in the mammillary bodies
Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome
Vitamin deficient in Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome
Thiamine (B1)