Neuro Terminology

Question 1

agnosia

Answer 1

unable to recognize familiar objects (e.g., visual agnosia where patients unable to recognize familiar faces/people

Question 2

akinesia

Answer 2

inability to initiate movement

Question 3

expressive aphasia

Answer 3

Broca’s aphasia: typically L brain insult, R hemiplegia, severe difficulty with verbal expression, impaired object naming and writing

Question 4

global aphasia

Answer 4

most common and most severe aphasia
reduced speech and comprehension
difficulty with reading and writing too

Question 5

receptive aphasia

Answer 5

Wernicke’s aphasia: severe disturbance auditory comprehension. Reading, writing and word recognition also impaired.

Question 6

apraxia

Answer 6

inability to perform movement learned previously

despite no loss of strength, coordination, sensation or comprehension

Question 7

ideational apraxia

Answer 7

person no longer understands routine tasks

e.g., washing hands, brushing teeth

Question 8

ideomotor apraxia

Answer 8

person unable to do task on command

but can do it spontaneously

Question 9

astereognosis

Answer 9

inability to recognize objects by touch alone

Question 10

asynergia

Answer 10

inability to move muscles together in a coordinated manner

Question 11

ataxia

Answer 11

uncoordinated movement, esp gait

Question 12

athetosis

Answer 12

slow, involuntary worm-like twisting motions

usually seen in some forms of cerebral palsy

Question 13

causalgia

Answer 13

painful, burning sensations
often present in complex regional pain syndrome
(formerly know as reflex sympathetic dystrophy)

Question 14

Cheyne-Stoke respiration

Answer 14

common breathing pattern with apnea of 10-60 sec
then gradually increasing then decreasing depth and frequency of respiration

correlated with depression of frontal lobe
correlated to diencephalic dysfunction

can occur with severe TBI or CHF

Question 15

chorea

Answer 15

rapid involuntary jerky movements

Huntington’s Chorea

Question 16

decerebrate rigidity

Answer 16

ext of UE/LE secondary to brain stem injury

Question 17

decorticate rigidity

Answer 17

UE flexed, LE ext

Question 18

delirium

Answer 18

temporary confusion and loss of mental function

often due to illness, infection, drug toxicity or lack of oxygen

often reversible

Question 19

demential

Answer 19

loss of memory or intellectual functioning

may be reversible if due to toxins, drugs, metabolic or psychiatric disorders

often slowly progressive and non-reversible if secondary to alcoholism, Alzheimer’s, infarction, Parkinson’s, etc.

Question 20

dysmetria

Answer 20

inability to judge distance

often due to cerebellar dysfunction

(unable to touch finger to nose)

Question 21

EMG

Answer 21

produces graphic record of muscle contraction in response to e-stim

used to evaluate voluntary electrical activity of a muscle

Question 22

glove and stocking anesthesia

Answer 22

seen with generalized peripheral neuropathies (distal degeneration)

occasionally seen in Guillan-Barre syndrome

Question 23

Herpes-Zoster

Answer 23

shingles

painful inflammation of the posterior root ganglion

caused by herpes (chicken pox) virus

vesicles form along the dermatome

Question 24

Horner’s syndrome

Answer 24

ptosis of the eyelid
constriction of the pupil
lack of facial sweating on the ipsilateral side

often seen with CVA of :

ANT inferior
POST inferior

CEREBELLAR ARTERIES

Question 25

Morton’a neuroma

Answer 25

compression between 3rd and 4th MT due to excessive pronation in stance

nerve enlarges and forms a neuroma of the interdigital nerve resulting in metatarsalgia

Question 26

nerve conduction velocity (NCV) test

Answer 26

test to determine severity of nerve compression prior to surgery (as in HNP)

compressed or damaged nerve has decreased speed of action potential

Question 27

nystagmus

Answer 27

rapid back and forth movement of the eyeballs

Question 28

reciprocal inhibition

Answer 28

inhibition of antagonists to primary muscle(s)

essential to coordinated movement

Question 29

Romberg’s sign

Answer 29

loss of balance when eyes are closed

body sways occur or amplified

Question 30

somatagnosia

Answer 30

lack of awareness of relatioship of one’s own body parts

or the body parts of others

Question 31

vegetative state

Answer 31

a deep coma with abnormal posturing

if persistent, rehab potential diminishes

Question 32

visual acuity

Answer 32

sharpness of vision

decreases with age, diabetes

may need reading glasses for near vision

decreased low light vision
decreased ability to adapt to dark or light environments

may need brighter lights and/or color contrasts in home to increase ambulation safety

Question 33

homonymous hemianopsia

Answer 33

damage to the contralateral optic tract resulting in deficit of L or R half of visual field

Both eyes lose L or R field

Question 34

bi-temporal hemianopsia

Answer 34

injury at the optic chiasm resulting in decreased temporal or peripheral fields

also known as tunnel vision

Question 35

monocular blindness

Answer 35

injury of one of the optic nerves resulting in