TEST 1 Flashcards
Neurologic causes of communication disorders
- Stroke
- Intracranial tumors
- Hydrocephalus
- Infections/toxins
- Nutritional/metabolic disorders
- Traumatic/Acquired brain injury
- Dementia
Stroke/CVA
-Sudden death of brain cells due to lack of oxygen when blood flow to brain is impaired by blockage or rupture of an artery to brain
Symptoms of a CVA
- Most common symptom is weakness or paralysis of one side of body w. partial or complete loss of voluntary movement or sensation in a leg &/or arm
- speech problems and weakness of facial muscles (facial droop), causing drooling
- Numbness or tingling is very common
- Vertigo/dizziness
- Swallowing problems-dysphagia
- Problems w. consciousness
- Sudden headache
- visual-perceptual deficits
Embolic Stroke/Cerebral Embolism
- Occurs when a fragment of material travels from other parts of body (heart) to neck or brain and blocks a blood vessel
- Fragments may be a blood clot, a piece of atherosclerotic plaque, tissue from a tumor or tissue from a tumor
- Symptoms are rapid in onset
Effects of Stroke-Right Hemisphere
- Left hemiparesis (weakness) or hemiplegia (complete loss of strength)
- Analytical, spatial and perceptual deficits-judging distances, sizes, speed, position or relating parts to whole
- Left-neglect-ignore objects in the left visual field
- Impulsivity
- Anosognosia-lack of awareness of deficits, which leads to poor safety awareness and poor decision making (may try to drive a car)
- Short-term memory deficits
Anosognosia
lack of awareness of deficits, which leads to poor safety awareness and poor decision making (may try to drive a car)
Neurologic Examination (4)
- Cranial nerves
- Motor System
- Consciousness/Cognitive Status
- Radiologic Studies
Ischemic CVA
”deprived of blood”
- blockage of artery causes lack of blood supply to parts of CNS which that artery “feeds”
- 80% of stokes are ischemic
- Can be thrombotic or embolic
Thrombotic stroke/cerebral thrombosis
- an artery to brain is blocked by a clot
- Occur mostly in large arteries-internal carotids, vertebrals and the basilar arteries
- Occlusion for more than a few minutes (3-5) causes death/necrosis of CNS tissue
- ischemic CVA
- blood flows through arteries it changes directions at bends and bifurcations where arteries narrow
- change in direction and size cause turbulence and increased velocity which roughens inner lining of artery and causes a plaque to form-atherosclerotic plaque
- plaque reduces size of space (lumen) w. in artery and causes stenosis
- As lumen size decreases so does vol of blood flowing through it
- clot eventually occludes artery causing a thrombotic CVA
- Symptoms slower in onset
Large Vessel Thrombosis
- Thrombotic stroke occurs most often in large arteries, so large vessel thrombosis is most common and best understood type of thrombotic stroke.
- Most are caused by a combo of long-term atherosclerosis followed by rapid blood clot formation
Small Vessel Disease/Lacunar Infarction
-Small vessel disease, or lacunar infarction, occurs when blood flow is blocked to a very small arterial vessel
TIA
- transient stroke that lasts only a few minutes.
- occurs when blood supply to part of brain is briefly interrupted.
- symptoms are sudden and are similar to those of stroke but do not last as long and disappear w. in an hr, although they may persist for up to 24 hrs.
- Most due to small emboli which occlude artery and break-up or dissolve
- occur when an artery is almost fully occluded causing significant changes in blood pressure and flow
Symptoms of TIA
- numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of body
- confusion or difficulty in talking or understanding speech
- trouble seeing in one or both eyes
- difficulty walking, dizziness, or loss of balance and coordination
Hemorrhagic Stroke-Cerebral Hemorrhage
- blood vessel bursts inside brain
- Damage can occur very rapidly bc of presence of blood itself, or bc fluid increases pressure on brain and harms it by pressing it against skull
- Usually associated w high blood pressure, which “stresses artery walls until they break”
- Another cause is an aneurysm.-”a weak spot in an artery wall, which balloons out bc of pressure of blood circulating inside affected artery”
- larger aneurysm is, more likely it is to burst.
Hemorrhagic Stroke Extracerebral
-effects blood vessels of meninges-3 connective tissue layers of the CNS (the pia mater-closest to the CNS structures, the arachnoid and the dura mater-farthest from the CNS)
Subarachnoid hemorrhage
- blood btwn arachnoid and pia matter
- usually due to aneurysm
Subdural hemorrhage
- blood beneath dura matter
- usually due to head injury
Extradural hemorrhage
- blood btwn dura matter and skull
- usually due to head injury
intracerebral hemorrhage
- Internal bleeding in any part of brain
- bleeding may be isolated to part of one hemi (lobar intracerebral hemorrhage) or it may occur in other brain structures, such as thalamus, basal ganglia, pons, or cerebellum (deep intracerebral hemorrhage).”
- Can be caused by tbi, aneurysm or hypertension (high blood pressure)
Effects of Stroke Left Hemisphere
Right hemiparesis (weakness) or hemiplegia (complete loss of strength)
Aphasia
Slow and cautious-need frequent encouragement, prompting, & feedback
Attention deficits
Immediate, short term &/or long term memory deficits
Difficulty w generalization
Effects of Stroke Cerebellar
Poor coordination
Balance problems
Dizziness/Vertigo-can cause nausea and vomiting
Abnormal reflexes-head tick movements, torso jerks
Effects of Stroke Brainstem
Paralysis or paresis of one or both sides of body Problems w regulating breathing Problems w heartbeat and blood pressure Vertigo Disrupts eye movements Pharyngeal phase dysphagia Short-term memory deficits
Motor Assessment
- Muscle tone-tension in muscle when voluntarily relaxed
- Range of motion
- Hypertonia-resistence to passive movement
- Spacticity-muscles are tense and hard resist stretching
- Rigidity-relaxed muscles resist movement
- Hypotonia/flaccidity-”floppy” muscles
- Muscle strength
- Monoplegia-paralysis of one limb
- Hemeplegia-paralysis of both limbs on same side of body
- Quadriplegia-paralysis of all four limbs
- Reflexes- gag, swallow, corneal
- Plantar/babinski reflex-toes bend down (normal)
- Palmar reflex-involuntary grasping of objects
- Dyskinesia-frequent involuntary movements
- Tremor-cyclic, small amplitude movements
- Resting-when muscles are relaxed
- Postural-during certain postures
- Intention-only during volitional movements
- Athetosis-slow, writhing movements
- Dystonia-involuntary contracions lasting long durations
- Fasciculations-fine, rapid, twitching movements
- Tics-repetitive movements (blinking, cough)
- Ataxia-difficulty initiating and terminating muscle movements
- Gait-walking/running
White Matter
Communicating fibers
Afferent and efferent tracts
Upper motor neuron lesions lower motor neuron lesions
Differential diagnosis
Gray Matter
Neuron bodies
Disorder causing demyelination of axon fibers:
MS is result of damage to myelin; affecting messages transfers btwn brain and other parts of body
Fibers (myelinated)
Projection fibers
Association fibers
Comissural fibers
Projection Fibers
Make up tracts (=pathways) connecting cortex w distant structures: brainstem and spinal cord (to and from)
Association Fibers
Communication btwn regions of same hemisphere
One example : arcuate fasciculus
Communication btwn frontal lobe and temporal, and parietal lobes
Damage: Conduction Aphasia - comprehension/expression are intact, but - inability to repeat info presented auditorily
Comissural Fibers
Communication btwn two hemispheres
Corpus Callosum – major group communication fibers
1940 – surgery as epilepsy treatment: cutting corpus callosum. Seizures stopped, but each hemisphere started to operate independently.
Ascending tracts
afferent
Descending Tracts
efferent
Major Descending Tracts
Originate in cortex, travel down brainstem
Pyramidal tracts (the corticospinal and corticobulbar tracts)
Tectospinal
Rubrospinal
Vestibulospinal all extra
Pontine reticulospinal
Medullary reticulospinal tracts
Pyramidal Tracts
carry impulses that convey info about voluntary fine motor movements. Fine motor movement of fingers when typing
Extrapyramidal Tracts
transmit impulses that control more of postural support needed to perform fine motor movements.
Keeping posture to type.
Indirect activation system basically start from brainstem to spinal nerves.
Tracts for Speech
Rubrospinal and Pontine and Medullary reticulospinal