Neurology: stroke Flashcards
What is a neurological disease?
- Disease affecting health, function, structure of nervous system (brain, spinal cord, nerves)
Time scale of neurological events:
- Immediate symptoms: usually A or B in origin
- Rapidly progressive symptoms (over days) may present C or D disease
- Slowly progressive symptoms tend to be caused by diseases
A: vascular (ischaemia/haemorrhage)
B: elecrtical (epilepsy)
C: infective (meningitis)
D: inflammatory
The neuron: A + B terminate in the C
Cell body
Axon
Synapse
Some neurons have an axonal length of more than A and can innervate between several B and C muscle fibres in one leg (= D)
A 1 m
B 100
C 2000
D motor unit
Other neurons have axons <A , terminating on B neuronal cell body(s)
A 100 microm
B one
What symptoms occur when the myelin sheath in destroyed as a function of auto-immune diseases?
(problems movement, coordination, sensation, such as in MS: multiple sclerosis)
What are 7 possible causes for neurological disorders?
- Atherosclerosis -> ischaemia
- Drugs, toxins, and poisons.
- Autoimmune diseases (e.g. MS)
- Injury
- Infection: (e.g. meningitis)
- Inborn errors
What are six common neurological disorders?
- Dementia
- Epilepsy (neurological disorder where the electrical activity of the brain is abnormal,
resulting in recurrent seizures. Common cause = stroke) - Stroke
- Pathogens (encephalitis: inflammation brain, meningitis)
- MS
- Parkinson’s
What are symptoms of a stroke?
- Severe headache
- Weakness
- Numbness
- Vision problems
- Confusion
- Trouble walking/talking
- Dizziness
- Slurred speech
Stroke is the ….. cause of severe disability, ….. people have a stroke each year
Leading
>15 million
What stroke is most common: ischaemic vs haemorrhagic ?
ischaemic
What are causes for ischaemic stroke?
- Blood vessel supplying blood to the brain gets blocked by a blood clot
- Atherosclerosis is responsible for this
- Other causes: atrial fibrillation, heart attack, blood clotting problem
- Damages brain cells
Haemorrhagic strokes account for …% of strokes. The most common cause is… Other causes are….
13%
High blood pressure
- Aneurysms (weakening blood vessel wall that swells)
- AVMs (blood vessel abnormalities)
What are the two types of haemorrhagic strokes + explain
- Subarachnoid haemorrhage: happens between brain and membrane that surrounds it (=subarachnoid space)
- Intracerebral haemorrhage: bleeding inside the brain
Risk factors of stroke?
- Over 60 yo
- Had stroke/TIA before
- Smoke and/or have inactive lifestyle
- High blood pressure, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity
- Family history of strokes