Lecture 10 Flashcards
Where is the clinical neuro exam most helpful?
helpful in distinguishing between Upper Motor Neuron (UMN) lesion or Lower Motor Neuron (LMN) lesion.
What are we looking at when talking about UMN?
- descending axons from cortex to brainstem or brainstem to spinal cord
- brain, spinal cord
What are we looking at when talking about LMN?
- axons exiting the CNS and innervating peripheral targets
- motor divisions of cranial nerves
- exiting brain stem and spinal cord
Will UMN lesions cause weakness?
Will LMN lesions cause weakness?
- yes
- yes
Will UMN lesions cause atrophy?
Will LMN lesions cause atrophy?
- no
- yes
Will UMN lesions cause fasciculations?
Will LMN lesions cause fasciculations?
- no
- yes
- Will UMN lesions cause increased or decreased reflexes?
- Will LMN lesions cause increased or decreased reflexes?
- increased
- decreased
Will UMN lesions cause increased or decreased tone?
Will LMN lesions cause increased or decreased tone?
- increased
- decreased
What are the 6 main components of the clinical neurological exam?
- Mental Status
- Cranial Nerves
- Motor Exam
- Sensory Exam
- Reflexes
- Coordination/Gait
What are the main components of the Mental Status Exam?
- Alertness/Arousal
- Orientation
- Memory
- Spatial Relations
- Apraxia
- Neglect and Constructions
- Sequencing tasks and frontal release signs
- Logic and abstraction
- Delusions and hallucinations
- Mood
Mnemonic to remember cranial nerves.
Oh / Some Oh / Say Oh / Marry To / Money Touch / But And / My Feel / Brother Very / Says Good / Big Velvet / Brains Ah / Matter Heaven / More
Our cranial nerves stem off of our ___________. What this means is that our CN can give us insight to any brain stem activity that is abnormal that may have not produced other symptoms.
brain stem
Our cranial nerve exam is considered a ______ and can help to rule in/out any more serious pathologies that may have been missed.
screen
What is CN1?
olfactory nerve
Is the olfactory nerve often included in the cranial nerve screen? Why or why not?
-No, unless specific pathologies such as a subfrontal tumor are present the olfactory bulb and tract are sparred.
With a CN1 test, we are testing for _________ and ___________.
- discrimination
- arousal
When during our testing of CN1 would we be concerned about the olfactory nerve as opposed to a nasal disease?
This is when we would look further into CN1.
If the patient smells something that should be neutral (such as chocolate) and it is unpleasant or distorted.
What is anosmia?
The loss of smell, either partial or total.
What are some things that could cause impairements with the olfactory nerve?
- Parkinson’s
- Chronic meningeal inflammation
- Tumor in subfrontal region
- Heavy smoking
What is CN2?
optic nerve
The optic nerve has multiple roles in the vision system and therefore has multiple tests such as what?
- Visual Acuity
- Color Discrimination
- Field Cuts
- Pupillary Response to Light Accommodation
What is visual acuity?
How do we test for visual acuity?
- how clear is patients vision
- Snellen chart (eye doctor chart)
What is color discrimination?
example is color blindness
- What are field cuts?
- How do we test field cuts?
- loss of vision
- patient sits in front of you and looks at your nose, using a color cap of a marker move slowly through each of the 4 quadrants from posterior to anterior and have them note when they can see the marker, repeat with other eye
What needs to be ruled out before ruling in visual field cuts.
neglect
Is visual neglect a result of damage to the optic nerve?
No, it is a result of damage to the parietal lobe
1
1
1
1
What is pupillary response to light accommmodation?
how well our eyes adjust in response to light (shining light into someones eyes should cause constriction)
- The pupillary response to light accommodation hits on _ cranial nerves, what are they?
- The ______ side of pupillary response is CN2, whereas the ________ side comes from CN3 (pupil constriction).
- 2, optic nerve (II) and occulomotor nerve (III)
- afferent, efferent
CN3, 4, and 6 are all ______ nerves that innervate what muscles?
- motor
- extraoccular muscles (EOMs)
- What nerve is CN3?
- What nerve is CN4?
- What nerve is CN6?
- 3 = occulomotor
- 4 = trochlear
- 6 = abducens
CN3 is important in pupil _________ (efferent limb), but is also important in what movements of the eyes?
- constriction
- elevation, depression, adduction
CN4 is important in what movements of the eyes?
- depression
- intorsion
(down and in)
CN6 is important in what movements of the eyes?
abduction
The extraoccular muscles can all be tested with one test, which is called what?
BIG H test