Module 2.6 Nervous System Injury and Disease Flashcards
What is a slight head injury called?
a concussion since the symptoms are mild and transient including dizziness or brief loss of consciousness.
What is intracranial pressure?
Intracranial pressure is the amount of pressure inside the skull.
What is the difference between apraxia and ataxia?
Apraxia is impaired motor planning resulting in rigid movements and difficulty executing a motor plan. Ataxia is impaired motor coordination, resulting from an injury to the cerebellum.
What are the two types of strokes?
Ischemic and hemorrhagic.
True or False: Alzheimer’s patients have fully functioning brain tissue.
False
What is quadriplegia?
Paralysis of all four limbs.
Compression of which nerve results in carpal tunnel syndrome?
Median nerve.
Compression of which nerve results in the ulnar claw sign?
Ulnar nerve.
Sciatica results from compression of what nerve?
Sciatic nerve.
What is a brain contusion?
It results in significant tissue damage, which usually causes unconsciousness (coma), ranging in duration from hours to a lifetime.
What is a hemorrhage?
A rupture in a blood vessel, causing blood to accumulate inside the skull.
What is Parkinson’s disease?
A disorder of the basal ganglia that causes apraxia.
What is another name for a stroke and what is it?
CVA (cerebrovascular accident), when blood flow to brain tissue is blocked and it dies due to lack of oxygen and nutrients.
What is a CT scan or CAT scan?
An imaging technology called a computer tomography scan, uses x-ray technology to take visual cross-sections of the brain.
What is an ischemic stroke?
Due to a blockage from something like a clot or fat deposit blocking a cerebral artery.
What is a TIA?
A transient ischemic attack, occurs when a very small clot causes a temporary block in blood flow, but then dissolves.
What is a hemorrhagic stroke?
A ‘brain bleed’, when a blood vessel ruptures, often causing death.
What complications can stroke survivors suffer?
Paralysis, speech problems, cognitive deficits, emotional difficulties, and pain.
What is dementia?
A general term for all brain disorders with memory deficits.
What is Alzheimer’s disease?
A degenerative brain disease, usually seen in the elderly, that results in mental decline until the brain can no longer control bodily functions.
What happens to the brain with Alzheimer’s disease?
It is associated with structural changes in the brain, particularly in the cerebral cortex. Plaques form and entangle the dendrites within the brain, preventing neurons from firing, which eventually leads to cell death.
What does a brain with Alzheimer’s look like?
Decreased brain tissue is seen in the brain by a shrinkage of the cerebral cortex gray matter and enlarged ventricles.
What are the symptoms of Alzheimer’s?
Early problems with learning new information, then more basic memory skills, including disorientation to their surroundings, mood and behavior changes, then ultimately difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.
What is ALS?
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis aka Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare neuromuscular condition that involves progressive destruction of ventral horn motor neurons. As the disease progresses, it causes paralysis.
What is paralysis and sensory loss caused by?
Localized damage to the spinal cord or spinal nerve roots. Damage to the ventral root or anterior horn cells results in paralysis of the associated skeletal muscles.
What is a complete (total) spinal cord injury?
Occurs if the spinal cord is completely severed at any level. Total motor and sensory loss is experienced in body regions below the site of the damage.
What may occur if the spinal cord is injured in the cervical region?
Quadriplegia.
What may occur if the spinal cord is injured from T1 to L1 (thoracic)?
Paraplegia.
What is carpal tunnel syndrome?
Compression of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel, decreased sensation in the first three digits and half of the fourth digit, muscle atrophy can occur if left untreated.
What is claw hand aka ulnar claw?
Ulnar nerve damage marked by the inability to open the fourth and fifth fingers caused by flexion at the IP joints and hyperextension of the MCP joints in digits 4 and 5.
What is sciatica?
Condition, increased pressure on the sciatic nerve from surrounding muscles, resulting in pain following the path of the sciatic nerve in the lower pelvis and posterior thigh.
