Module 8 Flashcards
- Not just medical, but literary, philosophic and psychologic
- The state of the patient’s awareness of self and environment and his responsiveness to external stimulation and inner need
- it is operational; you have to do something to detemine it.
consciousness
how to know if the patient is conscious?
- observe the patient
2. talk to the patient and see if he/she is responsive
2 components/ dimensions of consciousness
- content/cognition - what the patient knows
2. arousal - level of wakefulness; may be elevated or depressed
Elevation of Arousal
- Insomnia
- Euphoria
- Mania
- Hallucinations
- Convulsions
Depression (Level of Arousal)
- Normal Sleep
- Somnolence
- Stupor
- Semicoma
- Complete Coma
States of Normal and Impaired Consciousness
- Normal Consciousness
- Confusion
- Drowsiness/ Somnolence - patient drifts to sleep but easily be aroused by light tapping or name calling
- Stupor - patient drifting to sleep but can only be aroused by vigorous tapping; patient should respond after stimulating
- Coma – light (semicoma) or deep coma
Deep coma- absence or brain reflex
Structures necessary for consciousness
- Rostral pontine tegmentum
- Midbrain tegmentum
- Diencephalon
- Caudate-putamen (striatum)
- Medial hemispheric wall
- One cerebral hemisphere (esp. the cortex) and corresponding deep white matter
What is in the tegmentum that is necessary for the wakefulness?
- In the Tegmentum, you see The Ascending Reticular Activating System (RAS)
What is in The Ascending Reticular Activating System (RAS)?
- loosely organized group of neurons; no distinct borders; seen in the tegmentum
- consists of neurons that uses different neurotransmitters (cholinergic, histaminic, serotonergic) that are part of the reticular activating system
- they send projection to the thalamus as well as cingulate gyrus and diffusely to other parts of the cerebral hemisphere.
- also accepts information from the sensory pathway (from spinothalamic tract and tigeminothalamic tracts)
Reticular Activating System (RAS) stimulation and disruption
Stimulation: transient arousal
Disruption: depression of consciousness/coma
Metabolic Mechanisms that Disturb Consciousness (1)
- Reduction in blood flow (eg shock, low BP, arrest)
- Reduction in cerebral metabolism (hypoglyceima)
- Toxins – endogenous toxins (hepatic encephalopathy - hyperammonemia; kidney problems - increase creatinine); hypoNatremia (blood will be hypotonic causing shifting of fluids inside the neuron that will cause swelling); direct effect on neuronal membranes in the cerebrum, RAS, neurotransmitters and their receptors
Metabolic Mechanisms that Disturb Consciousness (2)
- Sudden and excessive neuronal discharges – as that which occur in seizures (particularly generalized seizures)
- Concussion - brought about by tremendous pressure; shearing forces from trauma/accident; can be temporary
Pathologic Anatomy of Coma (Structural Causes of Coma)
- Discernible mass lesions (if the mass is large, it can cause increase pressure in the brain leading to brain herniation)
- Destructive lesions in the midbrain or thalamus
- Widespread bilateral damage to the cortex, cerebral white matter
- a displacement/dislocation of brain tissue from one compartment to another
- name based on the structure that is traversed or part that is herniating
Herniation
Schematic Depiction of brain herniations (Cerebral hemispheric subcortical white matter)
- Transfalcine or subfalcinar lesion - herniation under the falx cerebri
- Transtentorial Herniation or Uncal Herniation - downward displacement and it passes through the tentorium cerebelli
- Cerebellar Tonsillar Herniation/Transforaminal Herniation - passage of the cerebral tissue to the foramen magnum
- Kernohan-Woltman Notch/Phenomenon - not a herniation but occurs in uncal herniation
Types of Transtentorial Herniation
- Uncal Herniation Syndrome - medial portion of the temporal lobe herniate
- Central Herniation Syndrome - entire brain that is displaced downward so there is lateral involvment
- follows a rostro-caudal sequence (confusion, apathy, drowsiness) then sensorial change
- may notice Cheyne-stokes respiration
- pupils are small which reach sluggishly to light»_space; bilateral decerebration»_space; loss of caloric responses»_space; irregular breathing»_space; death
Central Syndrome
• Preceded by a unilateral pupillary dilatation (because of impingement of Cranial Nerve III which emeges from the midbrain; malapit na sa tentorium cerebelli kaya pagnaherniate na ang uncus, madali syang maimpinge)
Uncal Syndrome
Pathologic Changes in uncal herniation:
- Injury to outer fibers of ipsilateral CN III
- Creasing of contralateral cerebral peduncle (Kernohan’s notch)
- Duret hemorrhages
- Unilateral or bilateral infarction of the occipital lobes - there might be impingement of the arteries (posterior cerebral artery causing secondary strokes)
- Rising ICP and hydrocephalus (accumulation of CSF due to obstruction in the aqueduct of sylvius; hydrocephalus will be more seen in the lateral ventricle)
Clinical Manifestation of the Creasing Contralateral Cerbral Peduncle (Kernohan Notch)
Crushing of the cerebral peduncle which contains the corticospinal fibers (Contralateral to kernohan’s notch weakness and extensor problem
- small hemorrhages in the midbrain brought about by small torn arteries
Duret hemorrhage
- Impaired consciousness
- Neck rigidity
- Opisthotonus and decerebrate rigidity
- Irregular respiration
- Apnea that can lead to respiratory arrest
- Bradycardia
Cerebellar tonsillar herniation
Posturing (reason of rostrocaudal sequence in Central Herniation)
- Supratentorial Lesion - weakness contralaterally
- Upper midbrain damage - decorticate posturing (abduction of the upper extremity, flexion of the wrist, stiffening of bilateral lower extremities)
- Upper pontine damage - decerebrate (extended Upper extremities and externally rotated, Lower extremities stiffened
Respiratory and autonomic effects of brainstem lesions and transtentorial herniation
- Supratentorial lesion - apnea then increase respiration then apnea (Cheyne-Stoke respiration: earliest sign that you’ll know that there’s something happening in the brain but not all the time neurologic)
- Upper midbrain lesion - rapid inspiration and expiration (Central Neurogenic Hyperventilation; can be seen also in acidotic patients and pneumonia)
- Pons lesion - inspiration, pause, apnea (Apneustic Breathing; not a good type of respiratory breathing)
- Caudal Pons lesion - irregular, no characteristics - can be shallow, deep then periods of apnea (Ataxic Breathing/ Biot breathing/agonal type of respiration); usually poor prognosis
- Medulla - apnea (no breathing)
Pupils of the Unconscious patients (can have a clue on the cause of the trauma)
- Metabolic Disturbances - reactive and equal
- Diencephalic Lesion - small, equal and reactive
- Uncal herniation - one pupil will be dilated (usually the one ipsilateral to the herniation)
- Midbrain lesion - midposition pupils (not too large, not too small) and usually fixed
- Pontine lesion - pinpoint pupil (usually you cannot discern the reaction of the pupil because it is too small)
- Pretectal lesion - large, fixed, hippus
Approach to a Patient with Impaired Consciousness (Initial assessment)
I. Initial assessment: • Vital signs – pressors? • Airway – be prepared for intubation • Blood sugar – glucose with thiamine • Assume a possible cervical spine injury until it is ruled out
Approach to a Patient with Impaired Consciousness (History)
II. History:
• Sequence of events leading to coma
• Patient’s past medical history and medications – check also for suicidal attempts
Approach to a Patient with Impaired Consciousness (Physical Examination)
III. Physical Examination
• Vital signs – especially respiration, heart rate
• Signs of trauma? any wounds
• Signs of acute or chronic illness
• Neurologic examination: level of consciousness, pupils, eye movements, fundoscopy, motor status, reflexes, meningeal signs
How can you elicit pain in a patient having decreased in sensorium?
a. Pressure on the supraorbital nerve - apply pain on the orbital rim
b. Pressure on the nail bed
c. Sternal rub
- scale that was developed on patients who had trauma
- way of assessing the level of brain injury
- consists of 3 parts: Eye opening, Best Verbal response and Best Motor Response
Glasgow Coma Scale
Eye Opening
4 – Spontaneous
3 – To speech
2 – To pain
1 – None
Best Verbal Response
5 – Oriented 4 – Confused 3 – Inappropriate 2 – Incomprehensible 1 – None (if pt in intubated, don't put a score, just put T/intubated)
Best Motor Response
6 – Obeying/ follows commands
5 – Localizing (will tell you where is the pain; withdraw on where the pain is)
4 – Withdrawal (cannot localize but can withdraw, flexion of the arm, parang hilaw na localization na pain)
3 – Flexion (decorticate)
2 – Extension (decerebrate)
1 – None
What if the patient is aphasic but can do spontaneous movements? What can you grade on the Best motor response?
6
Glasgow Coma Score
Normal - 15
(Differentiating coma due to metabolic vs. structural disorders)
Focal/Lateralizing Sign
Structural
(Differentiating coma due to metabolic vs. structural disorders)
Pupil reactivity
Metabolic - reactive pupil and equal although not always but its a general rule
(Differentiating coma due to metabolic vs. structural disorders)
Eye movements
Structural - doll’s eye but if its in the brainstem there will be no doll’s eyes
Metabolic - intact doll’s eye
Brain Death: Primary Clinical Criteria
- …has suffered a condition that could cause brain death
- …receiving artificial respiration
- …minimum core body temp of 32.2°C (mature)
- …normotensive (coma state is not due to circulation
- …no depressants/ neuroparalytics administered to the patient
- …no brainstem functions
What is “no brain functions”?
- coma
- midposition/ dilated pupils
- no spontaneous/ induced eye movements
- no response to Vth nerve stimulation (no corneal reflex)
- no spontaneous or reflex facial movements
- no oropharyngeal responses
- no audito-palpebral or vestibulo-ocular reflexes (doll’ eye reflex) - (introduce a loud sound and if the patient didn’t blink it will be a negative audito-palpebral reflex)
- complete apnea
Ancillary Diagnostic Tests for Brain Death
- Isoelectric EEG – “electrocerebral silence” (similar to flatline on EKG)
- Absence of cerebral blood flow by radionuclide or Doppler studies or direct angiography
- Apnea test - oxygenate the pt for sometime and if you remove it pt will demonstrate increasing carbon dioxide level); pt who doesn’t breath will not be able to blow off CO2
Etiologies of Coma: Metabolic and other diffuse disorders
- Drug poisoning
- Anoxia or ischemia
- Hepatic encephalopathy
- Encephalomyelitis and encephalitis (infection of the brain)
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding on the subarachnoid space usually by bleeding or trauma)
- Endocrine disorders (e.g., diabetes) - hypoglycemia
- Acid-base disorders - renal diseases
- Temperature regulation - hypothermia
- Uremic encephalopathy
- Pulmonary disease
- Nutritional
Etiologies of Coma: Supratentorial mass lesions
- Intracerebral hematoma
- Subdural hematoma
- Cerebral infarct
- Brain tumor
- Epidural hematoma
- Thalamic infarct
- Pituitary apoplexy
- Closed head injury
Etiologies of Coma: Infratentorial lesions
- Brainstem infarct
- Pontine hemorrhage
- Cerebellar hemorrhage
- Cerebellar infarct
- Brainstem demyelination
- Cerebellar abscess
- Posterior fossa subdural hemorrhage
- Basilar migraine
- …exhibit sleep-wake cycles
- …appear awake
- …responds to pain but not purposive
- …akinetic or hypokinetic
- …may retain autonomic or somatic reflexes
- …may show primitive reflexes
Persistent vegetative state (PVS)
- …the patient is capable of some rudimentary behavior, or producing simple words and phrases
- …difficult to differentiate from akinetic mutism
- …often exists as a transitional state arising during recovery from trauma or worsening of progressive neurologic disease
Minimally Conscious State
- Affectation of the basis pontis, leaving the pontine tegmentum intact
- Patient is conscious, quadriplegic and can move eyes vertically
Locked-In Syndrome
- …coma vigile
- …intact motor and sensory pathways
- …profoundly abulic and apathetic
Akinetic Mutism
- Catatonia
- Reflexes are preserved
- Waxy flexibility (maintaining a posture), catalepsy
Psychogenic Unresponsiveness (Hysterical Coma)
Outline of Mental Status Examination
- General behavior and appearance
- Stream of talk
- Mood and affective responses
- Content of thought
- Intellectual capacity - pt education
- Sensorium
Sensorium
- Consciousness (awake, drowsy)
- Attention Span - ability of the pt to focus; give attention to a specific topic
- Orientation for time, place and person -
- Memory, recent and remote
- Fund of information - pt education, current events
- Insight, judgment and planning
- Calculation
- term usually used to refer to the gnosias (to know)
* Certain functions are assignable to certain cortical regions, i.e., motor and sensory activities
Higher Cortical Functions
True or False
Higher-order physiologic and psychologic function do not have a precise and predictable anatomy
True
- Certain cerebral functions are the product of complex, diffusely distributed activity
- …by which sensory stimuli are analyzed and integrated at various levels of the nervous system
- …and are united through a system of temporarily acquired (experientially derived) connections, into a working mosaic adapted to accomplish a particular task.
Higher Cortical Functions
Higher Cortical Functions:
- Cortex (gray matter) – 4,000 cm2 (roughly the size of the broad sheet)
- 10-30 billion neurons
- 150 billion glial cells (supporting cells)
- Trillions of synaptic connections
Homotypical cortex vs Heterotypical cortex
Homotypical cortex – laminations are distinct; either granular or agranular
Heterotypical cortex – less discrete lamination
- anterior to the frontal sulcus
- precentral gyrus (motor cortex, Brodmann Area 4)- gyrus that is anterior to it
- Anterior to the precentral lobe is divided by 3 sulci into 3 gyri: superior, middle, inferior
- inferior gyrus contains pars orbitalis, pars triangularis (BA 44/45 Broca’s Area) and pars opercularis
Frontal lobe
Brodmann Area in the Frontal Lobe
BA 6 - Premotor
BA 8 - ocular motility
BA 9-12 - Prefrontal lobe
BA 45-47 - responsible for behavior and spontaneity of response
Clinical Effects of Frontal Lobe Lesions (1)
- Motor abnormalities – motor cortex
- Speech and Language disorders – related to the dominant hemisphere (can result to Broca’s aphasia)
- Incontinence of bowel and bladder - area of frontal lobe that is for urination; found in the medial portion; usually kung saan saan na lang umiihi
Clinical Effects of Frontal Lobe Lesions (2)
- Impairment of attention, concentration, capacity for sustained mental activity, ability to shift from one line of thought or action to another
- Akinesia, apathy and abulia (matagal magresponse); utilization behavior (if you present an object, there is a desire to manipulate that object)
- Disinhibition of behaviour (perseveration -hindi makaalis from a previous thought)
- Distinctive abnormality of gait (gait apraxia - no weakness on the legs but have ataxia, also called as magnetic gait because it seems to be stuck to the ground and shuffling)
Neurologic Examination Techniques (Frontal Lobe)
- Observation during history taking
2. MMSE, MOCA (Montreal Cognitive Assessment)– with some components of frontal assessment
- primitive reflexes that are seen in babies and have disappeared because the frontal lobe stimulates them from appearing
- Grasp Reflex, Rooting reflex (stroking the side of the lips can cause the patient to go towards the stimuli), Palmomental reflex (stroking of the thenar eminence of one hand will cause contraction of the muscle ipsilateral to the hand), Sucking Reflex, Glabellar Tapping
Frontal Release signs
- repeated blinking if you tap on the glabella
- Normal: can have few blinks but eventually pt will resist blinking
Glabellar Tapping
- inferior to the Sylvian Fissure
- divided by 2 sulci into superior, middle and inferior gyrus
- superior gyrus - primary auditory cortex (Brodmann area 41/42)
- anterior to the primary auditory cortex is Brodmann area 22 (association area)
- inferior part for association words and vision
- amygdala and hippocampal formation are found here (middle portion)
Temporal Lobe
Clinical Effects of Temporal Lobe Lesions (1)
- Visual Disorders - because part of the optic radiation pass through the temporal lobe particularly those subserving the upper fields
Field cuts - superior quadrantanopsia
Visual hallucinations - Cortical deafness
- Auditory agnosias
Agnosia for sounds - can hear but cannot identify the sounds
Amusia - agnosia for music
Clinical Effects of Temporal Lobe Lesions (2)
- Word deafness (Auditory verbal agnosia) – the essential element in Wernicke’s aphasia; hear spoken words but you cannot process it
- Auditory illusions
- Auditory hallucinations
- Vestibular disturbances
- Disturbances of time perception
- Disturbances of smell and taste
- Disorders of memory, emotion and behavior
Broca’s Aphasia vs Wernicke’s Aphasia
Broca’s Aphasia - comprehension is intact but the speech is not fluent, repetition is poor
Wernicke’s Aphasia - Comprehension is poor but speech is fluent; speech is also incoherent
Neurologic Examination Techniques
- Confrontation test
2. Halstead-Reitan-Wepman screening test (as described in De Myer)
- posterior to the post central gyrus (BA 3,1,2 Primary Sensory Cortex)
- Posterior to the post central gyrus is divided into 2 by the intraparietal sulcus: superior parietal lobule (above) and inferior parietal lobule (below)
- Superior Parietal lobule contains BA 5 and 7 which is the association areas for sensation
- Inferior Parietal lobule made up of 2 gyri (superior marginal gyrus and angular gyrus)
Parietal Lobe
Clinical Effects of Parietal Lobe Lesions (1)
- Cortical sensory syndromes
• Position sense - proprioception
• Astereognosis - ability to identify object based on shape
• Agraphesthesia - ability to identify numbers/letters on the palm
• Two-point discrimination - ability to discern whether it is one or 2
• Detection of direction of movement of a tactile stimulus - directional scratch test
• Tactile inattention or extinction - ability to attend to 2 sensory stimulus presented simultaneously
Clinical Effects of Parietal Lobe Lesions (2)
- Asomatognosias - inability to identify parts of the body
• Anosognosia (hemispatial neglect) – may be manifested with:
- Dressing apraxia
- Constructional apraxia
– inferior parietal lobe problem; bilateral asomatognosia; consists of finger agnosia (unable to identify fingers), right-left confusion, dyscalculia, dysgraphia (inability to write)
Gerstmann Syndrome
Clinical Effects of Parietal Lobe Lesions (3)
- Ideomotor and Ideational Apraxia – loss of the ability to perform learned motor skills; usually affected the dominant parietal lobe
- Visual disorders - inferior quadrantanopsia (due to optic radiation passing through the parietal lobe)
• Visual neglect (usually a part of hemispatial neglect)
• Visual disorientation and topographognosia
Neurologic Examination Techniques (Parietal Lobe)
- Tactile inattention or extinction - inability to attend to 2 simultaneous stimuli; have to administer 2 stimuli at the same time
- Hemineglect – line bisection test; clock-drawing test; pt is presented with a line and pt has to put where the center of the line is
- Finger agnosia - inability to name finger; touch one finger at a time and identify the finger; ask pt show which finger was touched
- Right-left confusion - eg use your left hand to touch you right nostril
Neurologic Examination Techniques (Parietal Lobe) 2
- Dysgraphia
- Dyscalculia
- Tests for apraxia – may be done by giving various commands
- Dressing apraxia
- Tests for constructional apraxia - intersecting pentagon
- no particular landmark just he parieto-occipital fissure
* contains the primary and association areas for vision
Occipital Lobe
Clinical Effects of Occipital Lobe Lesions
- Visual field defects - hemianopsia
- Cortical blindness
- Visual anosognosia
- Visual illusions and hallucinations
Clinical Effects of Occipital Lobe Lesions 2
- Visual agnosias
• Visual object agnosia - pt can see but cannot identify
- Simultanagnosia/ simultagnosia - has inattention on 2 simultaneous visual stimuli
- Prosopagnosia - ability to identify familiar faces
- Color agnosia - can see the color and can match on the other objects that have the same color but pt cannot identify the color
Neurologic Examination Techniques (Occipital Lobe)
- Visual agnosia – differentiate from anomia
- Prosopagnosia – show familiar, popular faces
- Simultanagnosia – bilateral visual stimuli
visual agnosia vs anomia
Visual agnosia - unable to identify the object
Anomia - cannot identify but knows the function of the object (hindi lang alam ang pangalan)
3 Primary Vesicles
- Prosencephalon/ Forebrain
- Mesencephalon/ Midbrain
- Rhombencephalon/ Hindbrain
- will divide into Telencephalon and Diencephalon
- Telencephalon: Cerebral cortex (two hemispheres), portions of basal ganglia
- Diencephalon: Thalamus, hypothalamus, subthalamus and epithalamus
Prosencephalon
- will be the same mesencephalon
Mesencephalon
- will be divided into Metencephalon and Myelencephalon
- Metencephalon: Pons and cerebellum
- Myelencephalon: Medulla oblongata
Rhombencephalon
The __ is the region of the embryonic vertebrate neural tube that gives rise to posterior forebrain structures including the thalamus, hypothalamus, posterior portion of the pituitary gland and pineal gland.
diencephalon
Subdivisions of the Diencephalon:
- Hypothalamus
- Thalamus
- Epithalamus
- Subthalamus
• Extremely important in maintaining homeostasis. It does so by regulating 3 interrelated functions
1. Endocrine secretions – control hormones secreted by the pituitary gland
2. Autonomic Functions – integrates autonomic functions via direct projections to preganglionic autonomic neurons located in the brain stem
and spinal cord
3. Emotions and Drives – numerous interconnections with the limbic system
Hypothalamus
Hypothalamus: Supra-optic region
• Supraoptic nucleus – contains neurons that produce the ADH or vasopressin
• Paraventricular nucleus – produce oxytocin
• Suprachaismatic nucleus – involved in controlling circadian rhythms
• Medial Preoptic - Blood pressure
• Anterior Hypothalamic - Body
temperature
(Hypothalamus)
• Contain cells that produce orexins, which control the various aspects of sleep.
Tuberal region
(Hypothalamus)
• Mamillary bodies play a role in memory and learning
Mamillary region