Infections of the Nervous System
Fever Acute or subacute onset Headache Focal or diffuse symptoms and signs depend on location of infections (see Table 13.2) Elevated white blood count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate Increased frequency in…
Disorders of the Spinal Cord and Vertebral Bodies
Fig. 7.1 Diagram of spinal cord and vertebral bodies Spinal cord dysfunction results from traumatic, inflammatory, demyelinating, ischemic, nutritional, malignant, and degenerative conditions. Diseases affecting the spinal cord usually present…
Neurologic Examination
Task Instructions Scoring Date orientation “Tell me the date?” Ask for omitted items One point each for year, season, date, day of week, and month 5 Place orientation “Where are…
Disorders of the Vestibular System
Vestibular system (25 %) Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo Meniere’s disease Vestibular neuritis Chronic labyrinthine imbalance from poorly understood causes Proprioceptive system (15 %) Distal sensory peripheral neuropathy (diabetes, alcohol, toxins)…
Traumatic Brain Injury and Subdural Hematoma
Eye opening Motor response Verbal response Response Score Response Score Response Score Spontaneous 4 Obeys 6 Oriented 5 To speech 3 Localizes 5 Confused 4 To pain 2 Withdraws 4…
Disorders of the Developing Nervous System
Genetic mutations Mutations primarily affecting gray matter (neurons) Tay–Sachs disease Mutations primarily affecting white matter (myelin and their cells of origin) Adrenoleukodystrophy Krabbe disease Unbalanced chromosomes (from duplications or deletions)…
Neurologic Complications of Alcohol and B12 Deficiency
Fig. 19.1 Time course of alcohol withdrawal Intoxication and Alcoholic Coma Ethanol readily crosses the blood–brain barrier , enabling the brain alterations to begin soon after drinking. Signs of intoxication…
Brain Tumors
Fig. 14.1 Herniation syndromes Uncal herniation occurs when a lateral hemisphere mass displaces the medial edge of the uncus and hippocampal gyrus through the tentorium. Initially there is dilation of…
Disorders of Myelin
Fig 10.1 Pathologic specimen showing MS plaques ( arrows) (Courtesy of Mario Kornfeld, MD) The main physiologic effect of demyelination is to impede saltatory electrical conduction of nerve impulses jumping…
Disorders of the Extrapyramidal System
Fig. 12.1 Illustration of surround inhibition. The brain produces the desired motor pattern while simultaneously creating a surround inhibition of competing motor movements Movement disorders or extrapyramidal disorders are diseases…
