Persistent vegetative state Flashcards
What is the difference between psychological unconsciousness & neurologic unconsciousness [2]
Psychological unconsciousness refers to a state of unawareness or repressed ideas.
Neurologic unconsciousness is paralytic coma.
Important brain structures for arousal/sleep? [3] update !!
Ascending reticular activating system (ARAS): Important for alerting or arousal
Hypothalamus
Circadian clock
Suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) – promote arousal.
Which nuclei at the hypothalamus are important with sleep / arousal? [2]
State if they promote sleep or arousal [2]
Tuberomammillary nucleus (TMN) – promote arousal.
Ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO) – promotes sleep
Which part of the ARAS influences sleep / arousal? [3]
rostral brainstem tegmentum (i.e. pontine tegmentum).
via diencephalon (i.e. thalamus).
projections to the cerebral cortex (i.e. Lateral prefrontal cortex).
Which scales can you use to distinguish consciousness? [2]
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)
Loss of consciousness (LOC)
What is the prognosis of coma patients? [1]
A third of coma patients die within one month.
outcome of tbi
What are the 3 main categories of the levels of conciousness [3]
1 Comatose state (asleep and unconscious)
2 Vegetative state (Unresponsive Wakeful Syndrome)
(awake and unconscious)
3 Minimally conscious state (awake and some consciousness)
What is the minimum duration of loss of conciousnesss would severe TBI exhbit? [1]
24 hrs
State the scores for GCS and LOC that would be classified as
Mild
Moderate
Severe
Exam qs
GCS:
* Mild: 13-15
* Moderate: 9-12
* Severe: 3-8
LOC:
* Mild: 0-30min
* Moderate: 30min - less than24hrs
* Severe: >24 hrs
Define comatose state
A state of complete unresponsiveness in which patient lies with eyes closed and cannot be aroused to respond appropriately to any stimuli.
What is the difference betwen comatose state and deep sleep or general anaesthesia? [2]
Deep sleep: requires REM
General anaesthesia: requires anaesthetics
Coma generally a transitional state which last [], and rarely longer than []
Coma generally a transitional state which last a few weeks, and rarely longer than 1 month
Define locked-in syndrome [1]
A state of unresponsiveness in which patient lies with eyes closed and cannot be aroused to respond appropriately to any stimuli. However, patient retains eye movement and are fully conscious
Where in the brain does locked-in syndrome occur because of injury to? [1]
Which tracts are effected if this area is damaged? [2]
ventral pons
causing interruption to corticospinal and corticobulbar tracts