Organic Psychiatry Flashcards
Define organic psychiatric disorders.
Organic psychiatric disorders are directly caused by a demonstrable physical problem e.g. brain tumour
What is the function of the prefrontal cortex of the frontal lobe? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
What is the function of Broca’s area of the frontal lobe? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
What is the function of the motor, premotor and supplementary motor cortex of the frontal lobe? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
What is the function of the temporal lobe? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
What is the function of Wernicke’s area of the temporal lobe? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
What is the function of the parietal lobe? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
What is the function of the occipital lobe? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
What is the function of the arcuate fasciculus? What would the symptoms of dysfunction be?
Define delirium.
Delirium = acute and transient state of global brain dysfunction with clouding of consciousness due to an underlying physical problem.
Describe the epidemiology of delirium.
• Common
o 30% of medical inpatients
o 50% of post-operative patients
o 80% of elderly ITU patients
What are the risk factors of delirium?
- Older age
- Male
- Pre-existing physical or mental illness (especially dementia)
- Substance misuse
- Polypharmacy
- Malnutrition
- Pain
- Sensory impairment
- Immobility
Describe the aetiology of delirium.
mnemonic: VITTAMIN
• Vascular, e.g. stroke, MI
• Infective: intracranial (e.g. encephalitis) and systemic (e.g. UTI/chest infection, septicaemia)
• Trauma: head injury, burns, fractures
• Toxic: Drugs and alcohol intoxication/withdrawal, poisoning, overdose.
• Autoimmune: e.g. SLE, MS
• Metabolic: liver/renal failure, electrolyte imbalance, hypoglycaemia
• Iatrogenic: deliriogenic medications e.g. sedatives, anticholinergics, opiates, steroids
• Neoplastic: SOLs
Other:
• Hypoxia: CV/respiratory disease
• Nutritional: Wernicke’s encephalopathy
• CNS: raised ICP
Describe the clinical presentation of someone with delirium.
Onset is sudden (hours-days) and symptoms fluctuate throughout the day, often worse in evening and at night.
• Altered consciousness: from drowsiness or stupor → clouded consciousness (fogginess, inability to focus) → vigilance or hyper-alertness
- Global cognitive impairment: inattention, disorientation and poor memory.
- Disorganised thinking and impoverished speech
• Mood changes prominent (can resemble depression or mania)
• Disorientated with poor attention and short-term memory
• Transient muddled delusions
• Illusions and hallucinations are common (most commonly visual)
• Sleep disturbances – insomnia or reversal of sleep-wake cycle common
• Behavioural changes
o Hyperactivity, agitation and aggression
- Wandering, climbing into other patients’ beds, pulling out catheters
- Easily identified
o Hypoactivity, lethargy, stupor, drowsiness and withdrawal
- Quiet delirium
- Easily missed
o Mixed - fluctuating between the 2 (commonest)
What are the investigations for delirium?
- Physical examination + Obs (include DRE if hx of constipation)
- MSE - ddx include depression, mania, negative symptoms of schizophrenia
- Collateral hx
- Check DHx (medication chart)
- Cognitive assessment
- Essentials:
o FBC
o U&Es
o TFTs
o Vit B12
o Glucose
o Calcium - bone profile
o MSU
o SaO2
o ECG
o CXR
o Septic screen
o HIV and syphilis serology
- Consider
o LFTs
o Blood cultures
o CT head
o CSF
o EEG
How should we manage delirium?
-
Treat the cause
- Manage aggravating factors (e.g.pain, dehydration, constipation)
- Stop unnecessary medications
- Optimise medication and emir any dentures fit
-
Behavioural Management
- Frequent reorientation (e.g.clocks, calendars, verbal reminders)
- Good lighting(gloomy conditions increase risk of hallucinations/illusions)
- Address sensory problems (e.g.hearing aids, glasses)
- Avoid over-or under-stimulation (side room if the main ward is disruptive)
- Minimise change
- Don’t keep moving the patient
- One staff member to engage with the patient each shift
- Establish a routine (regular toileting and sleep hygiene)
- Remove things that can be thrown or tripped over
- Silence unnecessary noises (e.g.bleeping alarms)
- Allow safe or supervised wandering
-
Medication
- Small night-time dose of benzodiazepines could promote sleep
- If short-term sedation is needed, low-dose typical antipsychotics (e.g.haloperidol) or benzodiazepines can be used
-
Consider Referral
- Geriatrics
- Old-Age Psychiatry - those who suffer delirium are at increased risk of subsequent dementia
How can delirium be prevented?
o Good sleep hygiene without medication
o Minimal moves around hospital
o Encouraging mobility
o Proactive management (minimise dehydration, pain, constipation, urinary retention and sensory problems) - optimise physical health
What is the prognosis of delirium?
- Associated with:
- Increased mortality
- Longer admissions
- Higher readmissions rates
- Subsequent nursing home placement
- May take days to weeks to resolve
- Some patients do not return to pre-morbid levels
How do we classify dementia?
Dementia’s can be divided into cortical and subcortical types
• Cortical e.g. Alzheimer’s
o Affects cortical functions e.g. memory, language
• Subcortical e.g. Huntington’s
o Affects functions controlled by subcortical structures e.g. thalamus and basal ganglia
o Problems include bradyphrenia (mental slowing), bradykinesia, depression, movement disorders and executive dysfunction
Who is affected by frontotemporal dementia (FTD)?
- FTD is most commonly diagnosed in 45- to 65- year- olds.
- Most cases are ‘sporadic’ (no known cause) but around a third are familial, showing autosomal dominance inheritance.
- Key mutations affect three genes:
- those coding for microtubule-associated protein tau and progranulin
- a gene on chromosome 9
What are the hallmarks of FTD?
- Asymmetrical anterior temporal and/or frontal lobe atrophy
- Cortical atrophy
- neuronal loss
- gliosis
There’s no correlation between pathological severity and clinical symptoms
• Pick’s disease - type of FD
o Neurone’s contain Pick Bodies – rounded collections of hyperphosphorylated tau protein
• Frontotemporal lobar degenerative with tau-negative ubiquinated inclusions = FTLD-U
o Tau negative inclusions found
o Similar to those found in motor neurone disease
What are the clinical features and prognosis of FTD?
Initially, there are two main FTD subtypes:
- Behavioural variant FTD: prominent disinhibition and personality change
- Primary progressive aphasia: worsening speech and language problems
These often overlap, particularly later on, when memory problems emerge
Executive dysfunction, binge eating, and other compulsive behaviours can affect all sufferers.
Death usually occurs within 5-10 years
What is Huntington’s disease?
Autosomal dominant disease causes dementia and chorea
What is the causative mutation is HD? When is the onset?
Mutation of trinucleotide CAG repeat in Huntingtin gene on chromosome 4.
The longer the CAG repeat, the earlier and more severe the presentation.
Onset in early middle age
Shows anticipation: Lengthening occurs with each inheritance
Describe this picture
Coronal slices from cerebral hemispheres: healthy control (left) and HD (right). The caudate nucleus (arrows) is flattened in HD.
What is the pathology of HD?
Deposit of abnormal huntingtin protein cause atrophy of the basal ganglia, thalamus and some cortical neurone loss (mostly frontal)
CT/MRI may show caudate nucleus atrophy with lateral ventricle dilatation
EEG may be flat
Describe the clinical presentation of HD
- Clinical changes include personality and behavioural changes: Depression, irritability and aggression.
- Subcortical dementia emerges later
- Chorea affects limbs, trunk, face and speech muscles and produces a wide-based lurching gait
What is the prognosis of HD?
- No cure
- Relative can get genetic testing
- Death usually from intercurrent illness e.g. pneumonia but suicide is the second commonest cause of death
What is HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder?
HAND encompasses a range of neurocognitive disorders caused by HIV infection of the CNS.
What increases the risk of HAND?
The risk of developing HAND increases with
- age
- cardiovascular risk factors
- hepatitis C infection
- substance use disorder (e.g. methamphetamine)
Describe the clinical presentation of HAND?
- Asymptomatic cognitive impairment (ACI):
- formal testing shows mild cognitive deficits.
- Affects 30% of people taking antiretrovirals.
- Mild neurocognitive disorder (MND):
- objective cognitive deficits are accompanied by noticeable problems with memory, concentration, executive function, processing speed, and sometimes motor difficulties (e.g. bradykinesia).
- Affects 20– 30% of people takingantiretrovirals.
- • HIV- associated dementia (HAD; also known as AIDS dementia complex (ADC) or HIV encephalopathy):
- may occur after progression from HIV to AIDS.
- Early apathy and withdrawal progress to subcortical dementia, with neurological symptoms, e.g. ataxia, tremor, seizures, myoclonus. MRI may show generalized atrophy and diffuse white matter changes.
- Affects 2– 8% of people taking antiretrovirals.