Neurology Flashcards
What is Horner syndrome? - PAM is Horny
When sympathetic supply to the eye is affected
Sympathetic system can’t perform function of dilating the eye and opening the eye wide.
Ptosis, anhidrosis, miosis
usually underlying problem like stroke, tumour, spinal cord lesion
state and describe headache red flags
Onset - thunderclap, acute, subacute
Meningism - photophobia, phonophobia, stiff neck, vomiting
Systemic symptoms - fever, rash, weight loss
Neurological or focal signs - visual loss, confusion, seizures, hemiparesis, double vision, 3rd nerve palsy, Horner syndrome, papilloedema
Orthostatic-better lying down
Strictly unilateral
state some vascular and circulatory causes of headaches
- subarachoid hemorrhage
- acute intracerebral bleed (fatal hemorrhage due to coning)
- chronic subdural hemorrhage
- carotid and vertebral artery dissections
- temporal arteritis
- central venous thrombosis
what are some symptoms of a subarachnoid hemorrhage?
what are causes?
Thunderclap headache
meningism - stiff neck and photophobia
Usually occipital
Most caused by a ruptured aneurysm
Few caused by arteriovenous malformations, some unexplained
how do you treat and monitor a subarachnoid hemorrhage
Nimodipine (to reduce vasospasm and resulting ischemic infarct). And BP control
Diagnose with CT, Lumbar puncture (bloody or yellow) and MRA, angiogram
Treat aneurysms with platinum coiling
State some symptoms of a carotid and vertebral artery dissection
Headache and neck pain
Mean age 40, carotid > vertebral
Vertebral - occipital headache, Carotid - eye and forehead
How do you diagnose and treat carotid and vertebral dissections?
MRI/MRA, Doppler, Angiogram
Aspirin or anticoagulation
features of chronic subdural hemorrhage?
Bleeding Veins
Dark blood on scan in comparison to white blood on subarachnoid scan. Darkness shows the blood has already begun to decay
Common in old people
what is temporal arteritis?
what are the features?
Inflammation of temporal arteries
More common in females over 55
Constant unilateral headache, scalp tenderness, jaw claudication
25% Polymyalgia Rheumatica- proximal muscle tenderness
Blindness - if involvement of posterior ciliary arteries
how do you diagnose temporal arteritis?
biopsy (shows disruption of the internal elastic lamina and giant cells with nuclei)
what are some causes of central venous thrombosis?
Thrombophilia, pregnancy, dehydration and Behcets are causes
Optic disc swelling due to raised ICP is ___
papilleodema
What are the symptoms of meningitis?
Headache, Fever, Stiff neck, photophobia. Sometimes rash
confusion, alteration of consciousness
Treatment and diagnosis for meningitis?
antibiotics
blood urine culture
lumbar puncture after CT and MRI
Hemorrhagic changes in the temporal lobe can occur after meningitis infection with which virus?
Herpes Simplex
features of sinusitis?
(Malaise, headache, fever)
- Loss of vocal resonance, anosmia, catarrh, local pain and tenderness
- Opacification of paranasal sinus - blocked nasal passages
- Frontal pain 1-2 hours of waking and clears in afternoon
state 2 infective causes of headaches
- meningitis
2. sinusitis
state raised intracranial pressure causes of headaches
- brain tumour -e.g. glioblastoma multiforme
- Idiopathic intracranial hypertension
- chiari malformation
- sleep apnoea
How does IHH appear on imaging.
what are the risk factors for IHH?
cerebral oedema with effacement of ventricles and sulci but no mass lesion.
female sex, obesity
what are the symptoms of IHH
Tinnitus, Headache + various visual symptoms - visual obscurations, diplopia, papilloedema, visual field loss.
Associated with central venous sinus stenosis
treatment for IHH?
Weight loss, diuretics, optic nerve sheath decompression, lumboperitoneal shunt, stenting to treat dural venous sinus stenosis.
Why does sleep apnoea cause a headache?
How do you treat it?
Hypoxia, C02 retention causes vasodilation of brain blood vessels
sleep study, nocturnal NIV
What is the cause of a low pressure headache?
These are caused by low CSF pressure or volume
Spontaneous or provoked (e.g. tear in dura during spinal anaesthesia, after lumbar puncture)
How do you diagnose and treat a low pressure headache?
MRI scan + contrast agent - this will give you characteristic meningeal enhancement
Rehydration, caffeine, blood patch