Neuro Flashcards
(156 cards)
Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke: Signs / Sx etc.
contralateral hemiparesis + hemisensory loss of the FACE and UPPER LIMB
other features = anosognosia (insight lack), contralateral spatial neglect (if in non-dominant parietal lobe), conjugate gaze deviation TOWARD lesion side, contralateral homonymous hemianopsia (optic radiation damage in subcortical temporoparietal)
Anterior Cerebral Artery Stroke: Signs / Sx etc.
contralateral hemiparesis of LOWER limb
if bilateral ACA occlusion, may have ABULIA (lack of initiative/will), primitive reflexes (Moro, grasp), urinary incontinence (prefrontal cortex damage)
Posterior Cerebral Artery Stroke: Signs/ Sx etc.
contralateral hemianopia with macular sparing (due to collateral circ. from MCA) via visual cortex infarction
Basilar Artery Occlusion: Signs/ Sx etc.
damages corticospinal / -bulbar tracts
quadriplegia; bulbar dysfunction (facial weakness, dysarthria) and oculomotor issues (horizontal gaze palsy)
Anterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery occlusion: Signs / sx etc.
LATERAL PONTINE SYNDROME
ipsilateral pain/temp loss (trigeminal nucleus)
ipsi facial weakness (facial nucleus)
ipsi hearing loss (cochlear nucleus)
contra pain/temp trunk/limbs (lateral spinothalamic)
cerebellar dysfunction (ataxia, dysmetria)
Anterior Communicating Artery aneurysm: signs sx etc
compresses central optic chiasm
bitemporal hemianopia
Posterior Communicating Artery aneurysm: signs sx etc.
compresses CN III
ipsilateral mydriasis, ptosis + “down n out” deviation
Histopathology of brain biopsy shows:
amyloid deposits in cortical vessels
what’s the condition?
cerebral amyloid angiopathy
beta amyloid; usually asymptomatic, can be assoc. with hemorrhage or Alzheimer’s dementia
Histopatho of brain shows:
Congo red staining plaques in hippocampus
what’s the condition?
Alzheimer’s
neuritic (senile) plaques of EC beta amyloid surround dystrophic neurites (Congo+ and often hippocampal)
Histopatho of brain shows:
Eosinophilic, round cytoplasmic neuronal inclusions
what’s the condition?
Rabies
Negri bodies, especially in Purkinje and hippocampal pyramidal cells
Histopatho of brain shows:
profound neuronal loss in caudate nucleus
what’s the condition?
Huntington disease (AD)
choreiform movement, psych disturbance, dementia
Histopatho of brain shows:
Slit-like white matter cavities with surrounding gliosis
what’s the condition?
Lacunar infarction
recurrent in vascular dementia, with stepwise cognitive decline + focal deficits (older pt with CV risk factors such as DM and htn)
Histopatho of brain shows:
Microglial nodules and multinucleated giant cells
what’s the condition?
HIV-associated dementia
HIV enters CNS via infected macrophages and infects microglia > subcortical dementia with memory deficits, executive dysfunction + slow info processing
CD4 < 200/mm3
Meningioma: histo, signs / sx, etc.
slow-growing benign tumor of arachnoid meningothelium
“whorled” cell pattern of syncytial nests; psammoma bodies
well-circ round mass attached to dura at falcine, parasagittal, tentorial or lateral brain convexities
s/s are seizure via compression; HA/nausea/vom via ICP (worse lying or sleeping); focal neuro deficits by size/location
Ependymoma: epidemiology, histo, site
10% of posterior fossa tumors in kids
histo = characteristic perivascular rosettes (pink fibrous material around vessel); GFAP+ processes tapering towards vessels
paraventricular tumors in kids (eg, floor of fourth ventricle, other sites of ependymal cells); spinal ependymomas in adults
Glioblastoma: histo, morpho, site, epidemiology
1 primary malignant brain tumor of adults (40-70)
soft + poorly defined; can be very large –> mass effects and midline shift; areas of necrosis + hemorrhage with microvascular prolif.
seen in cerebral hemispheres (frontal, temporal, basal ganglia) + may cross corpus callosum with “butterfly glioma” appearance on img
histo = hypercellular areas of atypical astrocytes that border regions of necrosis (“pseudo-palisading”); poorly diff, pleomorphic astrocytes; nuclear atypia + many mitoses
Medulloblastoma: epidemiology + histo
malignant cerebellar tumors in children
small blue cells (primitive neuroectodermal tumor, PNET) with high mitotic index
Homer-Wright rosettes (cells surround neuropil) in 20%
Oligodendroglioma: site, morpho + histo
white matter of cerebral hemispheres; well-circumscribed gray mass with calcification
“fried egg” cells (round nucleus + halo of clear cytoplasm)
Pilocytic Astrocytoma: epidemiology; site; histo
usually benign in cerebellum (or brainstem, hypothalamus, optic path) of kids / young adults
histo = eosinophilic granular bodies and elongated hairlike processes (Rosenthal fibers: pink fibrous material); well-diff with spindle cells + hair-like glial processes + microcysts
Schwannoma: site, histo
mostly benign; vestibular branch of CN VIII at cerebellopontine angle
histo = spindle cells with palisading nuclei around “Verocay bodies” with an eosinophilic core (Antoni A pattern)
Craniopharyngioma: epidemiology, site, histo
benign suprasellar tumor in kids
cords/nests of palisading squamous epithelium with internal areas of lamellar “wet keratin”
Primary CNS Lymphoma: epidemiology, morpho
immunocompromised (HIV, transplant) pts; in HIV can be via EBV infection
multiple lesions in deep grey matter, white matter + cortex
Brain metastases: morphology / imaging, common primary tumor sites
lung, breast, kidney and skin (melanoma)
typically multiple, well-circ masses at grey-white matter junction
Neuroblastoma:
site, epidem, histo + markers
mutation
1 extracranial solid tumor in kids
small, round, blue cell tumors; “neuropil” (neuritic process pathognomonic of neuroblastoma cells)
NSE, chromogranin, synaptophysin and S-100 positive on IHC
urinary HVA and/or VMA high in 90%
N-MYC (chr. 2) is mutated