Medical Terminology Flashcards: Nervous System Terms, Brain, Nerves, Neurological

Encephalitis means inflammation of the brain itself, from encephalo meaning brain and itis meaning inflammation. It is most commonly caused by viral infections and presents with headache, fever, confusion, seizures, and altered consciousness. Meningitis means inflammation of the meninges, the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, from mening meaning membranes and itis meaning inflammation. Meningitis can be bacterial or viral and presents with severe headache, stiff neck, fever, and photophobia.

Hemiplegia means paralysis of one side of the body, from hemi meaning half and plegia meaning paralysis. It most commonly results from stroke affecting one hemisphere of the brain. Paraplegia means paralysis of the lower half of the body including both legs, from para meaning beside or both sides of the lower body and plegia meaning paralysis, typically caused by spinal cord injury below the cervical level. Quadriplegia, also called tetraplegia, means paralysis of all four limbs from spinal cord injury in the cervical region.

Neuropathy means disease or dysfunction of one or more peripheral nerves, from neuro meaning nerve and pathy meaning disease. The most common form is peripheral neuropathy, which causes numbness, tingling, burning pain, and weakness, usually starting in the hands and feet. Diabetic neuropathy is the most frequent cause, resulting from prolonged high blood sugar damaging nerve fibers. Other causes include alcoholism, vitamin B12 deficiency, chemotherapy, autoimmune diseases, and infections.

Cerebrovascular accident, commonly called a stroke, means damage to brain tissue caused by disruption of blood supply to the brain. The term breaks into cerebro meaning brain, vascular meaning blood vessels, and accident meaning an unexpected event. There are two main types: ischemic stroke, caused by a blood clot blocking a cerebral artery accounting for about 87 percent of strokes, and hemorrhagic stroke, caused by a ruptured blood vessel bleeding into or around the brain. Symptoms include sudden facial drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulty, and sudden severe headache.

A seizure is a sudden, uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain that can cause changes in behavior, movements, feelings, and consciousness. Seizures range from brief staring spells called absence seizures to full-body convulsions called tonic-clonic seizures. Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures, from the Greek epilepsia meaning to seize upon. A single seizure does not constitute epilepsy. Diagnosis requires two or more unprovoked seizures occurring at least 24 hours apart.

Cephalgia, more commonly called cephalalgia, means headache or head pain, from cephal meaning head and algia meaning pain. Primary headache types include tension-type headache presenting as bilateral pressure, migraine presenting as unilateral throbbing pain with nausea and light sensitivity, and cluster headache presenting as severe unilateral pain around the eye. Secondary headaches result from underlying conditions such as infection, trauma, vascular disorders, or increased intracranial pressure. Related terms include neuralgia meaning nerve pain and cranialgia meaning skull pain.

Dementia is a broad term for a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking, and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily life. The term comes from the Latin de meaning away from and mens meaning mind. It is not a specific disease but a syndrome caused by various brain disorders. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause, accounting for 60 to 80 percent of cases, followed by vascular dementia from impaired blood flow to the brain, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia.

Sclerosis means abnormal hardening of tissue, from sclero meaning hard and osis meaning condition. Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the myelin sheath, the protective covering of nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord, causing multiple areas of hardened scar tissue. This disrupts nerve signal transmission, causing symptoms like numbness, weakness, vision problems, and coordination difficulties.