A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of injuries, there are many causes—including accidents, falls, physical assault, or traffic accidents—that can cause head injuries.
Porencephaly is an extremely rare cephalic disorder involving encephalomalacia. It is a neurological disorder of the central nervous system characterized by cysts or cavities within the cerebral hemisphere. Porencephaly was termed by Heschl in 1859 to describe a cavity in the human brain. Derived from Greek roots, the word porencephaly means 'holes in the brain'. The cysts and cavities are more likely to be the result of destructive (encephaloclastic) cause, but can also be from abnormal development (malformative), direct damage, inflammation, or hemorrhage. The cysts and cavities cause a wide range of physiological, physical, and neurological symptoms. Depending on the patient, this disorder may cause only minor neurological problems, without any disruption of intelligence, while others may be severely disabled or die before the second decade of their lives. However, this disorder is far more common within infants, and porencephaly can occur both before or after birth.
The temporal lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The temporal lobe is located beneath the lateral fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain.
The occipital lobe is one of the four major lobes of the cerebral cortex in the brain of mammals. The name derives from its position at the back of the head, from the Latin ob, 'behind', and caput, 'head'.
Hypergraphia is a behavioral condition characterized by the intense desire to write or draw. Forms of hypergraphia can vary in writing style and content. It is a symptom associated with temporal lobe changes in epilepsy and in Geschwind syndrome. Structures that may have an effect on hypergraphia when damaged due to temporal lobe epilepsy are the hippocampus and Wernicke's area. Aside from temporal lobe epilepsy, chemical causes may be responsible for inducing hypergraphia.
Polymicrogyria (PMG) is a condition that affects the development of the human brain by multiple small gyri (microgyri) creating excessive folding of the brain leading to an abnormally thick cortex. This abnormality can affect either one region of the brain or multiple regions.
Moyamoya disease is a disease in which certain arteries in the brain are constricted. Blood flow is blocked by constriction and blood clots (thrombosis). A collateral circulation develops around the blocked vessels to compensate for the blockage, but the collateral vessels are small, weak, and prone to bleeding, aneurysm and thrombosis. On conventional angiography, these collateral vessels have the appearance of a "puff of smoke", described as moyamoya (もやもや) in Japanese.
The middle cerebral artery (MCA) is one of the three major paired cerebral arteries that supply blood to the cerebrum. The MCA arises from the internal carotid artery and continues into the lateral sulcus where it then branches and projects to many parts of the lateral cerebral cortex. It also supplies blood to the anterior temporal lobes and the insular cortices.
Cortical blindness is the total or partial loss of vision in a normal-appearing eye caused by damage to the brain's occipital cortex. Cortical blindness can be acquired or congenital, and may also be transient in certain instances. Acquired cortical blindness is most often caused by loss of blood flow to the occipital cortex from either unilateral or bilateral posterior cerebral artery blockage and by cardiac surgery. In most cases, the complete loss of vision is not permanent and the patient may recover some of their vision. Congenital cortical blindness is most often caused by perinatal ischemic stroke, encephalitis, and meningitis. Rarely, a patient with acquired cortical blindness may have little or no insight that they have lost vision, a phenomenon known as Anton–Babinski syndrome.
Brain herniation is a potentially deadly side effect of very high pressure within the skull that occurs when a part of the brain is squeezed across structures within the skull. The brain can shift across such structures as the falx cerebri, the tentorium cerebelli, and even through the foramen magnum. Herniation can be caused by a number of factors that cause a mass effect and increase intracranial pressure (ICP): these include traumatic brain injury, intracranial hemorrhage, or brain tumor.
Arachnoid cysts are cerebrospinal fluid covered by arachnoidal cells and collagen that may develop between the surface of the brain and the cranial base or on the arachnoid membrane, one of the three meningeal layers that cover the brain and the spinal cord. Primary arachnoid cysts are a congenital disorder whereas secondary arachnoid cysts are the result of head injury or trauma. Most cases of primary cysts begin during infancy; however, onset may be delayed until adolescence.
In the field of neurology, temporal lobe epilepsy is an enduring brain disorder that causes unprovoked seizures from the temporal lobe. Temporal lobe epilepsy is the most common type of focal onset epilepsy among adults. Seizure symptoms and behavior distinguish seizures arising from the medial temporal lobe from seizures arising from the lateral (neocortical) temporal lobe. Memory and psychiatric comorbidities may occur. Diagnosis relies on electroencephalographic (EEG) and neuroimaging studies. Anticonvulsant medications, epilepsy surgery and dietary treatments may improve seizure control.
Frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) is a neurological disorder that is characterized by brief, recurring seizures arising in the frontal lobes of the brain, that often occur during sleep. It is the second most common type of epilepsy after temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and is related to the temporal form in that both forms are characterized by partial (focal) seizures.
Foix–Chavany–Marie syndrome (FCMS), also known as bilateral opercular syndrome, is a neuropathological disorder characterized by paralysis of the facial, tongue, pharynx, and masticatory muscles of the mouth that aid in chewing. The disorder is primarily caused by thrombotic and embolic strokes, which cause a deficiency of oxygen in the brain. As a result, bilateral lesions may form in the junctions between the frontal lobe and temporal lobe, the parietal lobe and cortical lobe, or the subcortical region of the brain. FCMS may also arise from defects existing at birth that may be inherited or nonhereditary. Symptoms of FCMS can be present in a person of any age and it is diagnosed using automatic-voluntary dissociation assessment, psycholinguistic testing, neuropsychological testing, and brain scanning. Treatment for FCMS depends on the onset, as well as on the severity of symptoms, and it involves a multidisciplinary approach.
Abdominal epilepsy is a rare condition consisting of gastrointestinal disturbances caused by epileptiform seizure activity. It is most frequently found in children, though a few cases of it have been reported in adults. It has been described as a type of temporal lobe epilepsy. Responsiveness to anticonvulsants can aid in the diagnosis. Distinguishing features of abdominal epilepsy include (1) Abnormal laboratory, radiographic, and endoscopic findings revealing paroxysmal GI manifestations of unknown origin (2) CNS symptoms (3) Abnormal EEG. Most published medical literature dealing with abdominal epilepsy is in the form of individual case reports. A 2005 review article found a total of 36 cases described in the medical literature.
Epilepsy surgery involves a neurosurgical procedure where an area of the brain involved in seizures is either resected, ablated, disconnected or stimulated. The goal is to eliminate seizures or significantly reduce seizure burden. Approximately 60% of all people with epilepsy have focal epilepsy syndromes. In 20% to 30% of these patients, the condition is not adequately controlled with adequate trials of two anticonvulsive drugs, termed drug resistant epilepsy, or refractory epilepsy. Such patients are potential candidates for surgical epilepsy treatment.
Traumatic brain injury can cause a variety of complications, health effects that are not TBI themselves but that result from it. The risk of complications increases with the severity of the trauma; however even mild traumatic brain injury can result in disabilities that interfere with social interactions, employment, and everyday living. TBI can cause a variety of problems including physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral complications.
Ulegyria is a diagnosis used to describe a specific type of cortical scarring in the deep regions of the sulcus that leads to distortion of the gyri. Ulegyria is identified by its characteristic "mushroom-shaped" gyri, in which scarring causes shrinkage and atrophy in the deep sulcal regions while the surface gyri are spared. This condition is most often caused by hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in the perinatal period. The effects of ulegyria can range in severity, although it is most commonly associated with cerebral palsy, mental retardation and epilepsy. N.C. Bresler was the first to view ulegyria in 1899 and described this abnormal morphology in the brain as “mushroom-gyri." Although ulegyria was first identified in 1899, there is still limited information known or reported about the condition.
Congenital bilateral perisylvian syndrome (CBPS) is a rare neurological disease characterized by paralysis of certain facial muscles and epileptic seizures.
Occipital epilepsy is a neurological disorder that arises from excessive neural activity in the occipital lobe of the brain that may or may not be symptomatic. Occipital lobe epilepsy is fairly rare, and may sometimes be misdiagnosed as migraine when symptomatic. Epileptic seizures are the result of synchronized neural activity that is excessive, and may stem from a failure of inhibitory neurons to regulate properly.
