Concepts of Care for Patients With Conditions of the Central Nervous System: The Brain

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, central nervous system disorders, definitions, and medical therapies discussed in Chapter 36.

Alzheimer's disease (AD)

The most common type of dementia that typically affects people older than 65 years.

Agnosia

Loss of sensory comprehension and ability to recognize familiar sensory stimulation, including facial recognition.

Amnesia

Loss of memory.

Anomia

An inability to find words.

Aphasia

Problems with speech (expressive aphasia) and/or language (receptive aphasia).

Apraxia

Impairment in performing familiar movements; apraxia of speech is a motor speech disorder affecting the ability to form words.

Aura

A sensation (e.g., visual changes) that signals the onset of a migraine headache or seizure.

Bradykinesia/akinesia

Slow movement/no movement.

Clonus

Rhythmic jerking of all extremities during a seizure.

Dementia

A general term for progressive loss of brain function and impaired cognition; sometimes referred to as a chronic confusional state or syndrome.

Dyskinesia

The inability to perform voluntary movement.

Encephalitis

An infection (usually viral) of brain tissue and often the surrounding meninges.

Epilepsy

A chronic disorder in which repeated unprovoked seizure activity occurs.

Lewy bodies

Abnormal proteins that tend to deposit in the brain of individuals with Parkinson's disease and cause abnormalities in body movement; later in the disease, Lewy body dementia may occur.

Meningitis

An infection of the meninges of the brain and spinal cord, specifically the pia mater and arachnoid.

Migraine headache

A common clinical syndrome characterized by recurrent episodic attacks of head pain that serve no protective purpose.

Nystagmus

An involuntary condition in which the eyes make repetitive uncontrolled movements.

Parkinson's disease (PD)

A progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects mobility and is characterized by four cardinal symptoms: tremor, muscle rigidity, bradykinesia/akinesia (slow movement/no movement), and postural instability.

Phonophobia

A sensitivity to sound.

Photophobia

A sensitivity to light.

Seizure

An abnormal, sudden, excessive, uncontrolled electrical discharge of neurons within the brain that may result in a change in level of consciousness (LOC), motor or sensory ability, and/or behavior.

Status epilepticus

A prolonged seizure lasting longer than 5 minutes or repeated seizures over the course of 30 minutes; considered a medical emergency.

Validation therapy

Recognition and acknowledgement of a patient's feelings and concerns.

Vascular dementia

A common type of dementia caused by disorders that decrease blood flow to parts of the brain.

Neurofibrillary tangles

Microscopic structures found in the brains of people with AD composed of twisted fibrous tissue containing abnormal amounts of tau protein that impair neuronal impulse transmission.

Neuritic plaques

Structures composed of degenerating nerve terminals found particularly in the hippocampus, containing increased amounts of neurotoxic beta amyloid protein.

Sundowning

Increased confusion occurring at night or when light is not adequate in patients with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia.

Cholinesterase inhibitors

Drugs approved for treating AD symptoms (such as donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine) that delay the destruction of acetylcholine by cholinesterase to improve cholinergic neurotransmission.

Memantine

A low to moderate affinity N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist indicated for advanced AD that blocks excess amounts of glutamate to slow deterioration.

Dopamine agonists

Drugs such as apomorphine, pramipexole, ropinirole, and rotigotine that mimic dopamine by stimulating dopamine receptors in the brain to treat Parkinson's disease.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS)

A surgical treatment for PD where electrodes implanted in the brain are connected to an implanted pulse generator under the skin to deliver electrical current and reduce dyskinesias.

Stereotactic pallidotomy

A surgical procedure for PD that destroys the pallidum within the corpus striatum to improve stiffness, dyskinesia, and tremors.

Triptans

A class of abortive migraine medications (such as sumatriptan) that activate 5-HT (serotonin) receptors on cranial arteries to produce a vasoconstrictive effect.

Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS)

A surgical procedure for controlling continuous simple or complex partial seizures involving a generator implanted in the left chest wall connected to an electrode on the left vagus nerve.