|
|
|
|
|
|
Home
|
|
Welcome to BrainHelper.org
|
Thursday, 12 November 2009 |
Symptoms of Brain Aneurysms (Ruptured/Unruptured)
Ruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Symptoms
Sometimes patients describing "the worst headache in my life" are actually experiencing one of the symptoms of brain aneurysms related to having a rupture. Other ruptured cerebral aneurysm symptoms include:
* Nausea and vomiting
* Stiff neck or neck pain
* Blurred vision or double vision
* Pain above and behind the eye
* Dilated pupils
* Sensitivity to light
* Loss of sensation
Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Symptoms
Before an aneurysm ruptures, patients often experience no symptoms of brain aneurysms. In about 40 percent of cases, people with unruptured aneurysms will experience some or all of the following cerebral aneurysm symptoms:
* Peripheral vision deficits
* Thinking or processing problems
* Speech complications
* Perceptual problems
* Sudden changes in behavior
* Loss of balance and coordination
* Decreased concentration
* Short-term memory difficulty
* Fatigue
Because the symptoms of brain aneurysms can also be associated with other medical conditions, diagnostic neuroradiology is regularly used to identify both ruptured and unruptured brain aneurysms.
Diagnosis of Brain Aneurysms
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of a ruptured cerebral aneurysm is commonly made by finding signs of subarachnoid hemorrhage on a CT scan (Computerized Tomography, sometimes called a CAT scan). The CT scan is a computerized test that rapidly X-rays the body in cross-sections, or slices, as the body is moved through a large, circular machine. If the CT scan is negative but a ruptured aneurysm is still suspected, a lumbar puncture is performed to detect blood in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that surrounds the brain and spinal cord.
To determine the exact location, size and shape of an aneurysm (ruptured or unruptured), neuroradiologists will use either cerebral angiography or tomographic angiography.
Cerebral angiography, the traditional method, involves introducing a catheter (small plastic tube) into an artery (usually in the leg) and steering it through the blood vessels of the body to the artery involved by the aneurysm. A special dye, called a contract agent, is injected into the patient's artery and its distribution is shown on X-ray projections. This method may not detect some aneurysms due to overlapping structures or spasm.
Computed Tomographic Angiography (CTA) is an alternative to the traditional method and can be performed without the need for arterial catheterization. This test combines a regular CT scan with a contrast dye injected into a vein. Once the dye is injected into a vein, it travels to the brain arteries, and images are created using a CT scan. These images show exactly how blood flows into the brain arteries.
|
|
Last Updated ( Thursday, 12 November 2009 )
|
|
|
Sunday, 18 October 2009 |
Sleep may reduce mistakes in memory, according to a first-of-its-kind study led by a cognitive neuroscientist at Michigan State University.
The findings, which appear in the September issue of the journal Learning & Memory, have practical implications for everyone from students flubbing multiple choice tests to senior citizens confusing their medications, said Kimberly Fenn, principal investigator and MSU assistant professor of psychology.
“It’s easy to muddle things in your mind,” Fenn said. “This research suggests that after sleep you’re better able to tease apart the incorrect aspect of that memory.”
Fenn and colleagues from the University of Chicago and Washington University in St. Louis studied the presence of false memory in groups of college students. While previous research has shown that sleep improves memory, this study is the first to address errors in memory, she said.
Study participants were exposed to lists of words and then, 12 hours later, exposed to individual words and asked to identify which words they had seen or heard in the earlier session. One group of students was trained in the morning (10 a.m.) and tested after the course of a normal sleepless day (10 p.m.), while another group was trained at night and tested 12 hours later in the morning, after at least six hours of sleep.
Three experiments were conducted, using different stimuli. In each, the students who had slept had fewer problems with false memory – choosing fewer incorrect words.
How does sleep help? The answer isn’t known, Fenn said, but she suspects it may be due to sleep strengthening the source of the memory. The source, or context in which the information is acquired, is a vital element of the memory process.
Or perhaps the people who didn’t sleep during the study were simply bombarded with information over the course of the day, affecting their memory ability, Fenn said.
Further research is warranted, she said, adding that she plans to study different population groups, particularly the elderly.
“We know older individuals generally have worse memory performance than younger individuals. We also know from other research that elderly individuals tend to be more prone to false memories,” Fenn said. “Given the work we’ve done it’s possible that sleep may actually help them to reject this false information. And potentially this could help to improve their quality of life in some way.”
|
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 November 2009 )
|
|
|
Monday, 09 August 2004 |
|
BrainHelper.org has a downloads section that will continue to add tested and reliable programs for free and available for public use. So check it out often to look for new downloads. Downloads are FREE! |
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 16 November 2009 )
|
|
| | << Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 Next > End >>
| | Results 9 - 12 of 14 |
|
|
CB Online
None
Who's Online
We have 1 guest online
Statistics
Members: 48
News: 176
Web Links: 82
Visitors: 486593
|
