Brain Mass case studies 1.

Pam contracted polio before she had an opportunity to obtain the vaccine and found that the disease affected the neural innervation of her legs. She experienced significant muscle atrophy. Why did this happen? When the disease affected the innervation of her legs, the muscles in her legs were deprived of electrical stimulation from the central nervous system. When that occurred, the asynchrous muscle contractions that cause muscle tone also ceased. Loss of the muscle tone and nervous stimulation will cause the decrease in size and decrease in number of cells that is exhibited in muscle atrophy. 2. Mrs. April Masal, a 68-year-old woman, is brought to her doctor by her daughter, who fears that her memory loss, mental dullness, and word-finding problems mean that she has progressive and irreversible senile dementia. Medical history elicits the facts that she lost her husband 6 months previously, has been extremely depressed, and is taking sleeping pills and not eating properly. What would the doctor hypothesize about the probability of senile dementia in this case? Senile dementia can have many causes, including untreated depression, poor nutrition, and lack of sleep. The stress of losing her husband, coupled with the severe (untreated) depression, lack of sleep, and lack of proper nutrition, all point to non-organic cause of dementia. The doctor should treat for the depression and lack of proper nutrition in her diet, and monitor for signs of improvement with treatment. 3. Lucy is suffering from right-sided paralysis and sensory loss. She cannot speak at all. Cerebral angiography and a CAT scan have shown no cerebral vascular defects, but the CAT scan did reveal a leftsided mass wedged between the diencephalons and the basal nuclei. Using your knowledge of anatomy, explain Lucy's symptoms in terms of the specific lesion cite. This mass is found where the motor and sensory functions of the cerebral cortex can be found. Since the central nervous system exhibits contralateral control (opposite sides of brain control opposites sides of body, i.e. left brain controls right side of body), it would be expected with a left-side mass in the region of motor and sensory control to affect the motor and sensory functioning of the right side of the body. This mass would also impact Broca's area, which is a main area of control for speech motor functioning. 4. On performing an autopsy on a 60-year-old man, a medical student found that the man had no corpus callosum. Apparently, the man had functioned well neurologically; his medical history reported no neural dysfunctions. Explain why this finding does or does not surprise you. It is not surprising. Cutting of the corpus callosum is and was a treatment for severe epilepsy. People who undergo a corpus callosotomy are pretty much the same as before the surgery except for some interesting side effects that result from the differing role of the two hemispheres of the brain (brain lateralization). I would check out http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html for some easy to understand explanations of the effects.