Medical Terminology 8

Front 1

Alzheimer's Disease

Back 1

Deterioration of a person's intellectual functioning. Progressing and extremely debilitating. Begins with minor loss of memory and progressive to complete loss of mental, emotional, and physical functioning.

Front 2

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease)

Back 2

Severe weakening and wasting of the involved muscle groups usually beginning with with the hands and progressing to the shoulders and upper arms then the legs caused by decreased nerve innervation to the muscle groups.

Front 3

anecephaly

Back 3

Absence of the brain and spinal cord at birth, a congenital birth.

Front 4

Bell's Palsy

Back 4

Temporary or permanent unilateral weakness or paralysis of the muscles in the face following trauma to the face, an unknown infection, or a tumor pressing on the facial nerve rendering it paralyzed.

Front 5

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Back 5

Pinching or compression of the median nerve within the carpal tunnel due to inflammation and swelling of the tendons causing intermittent or continuous pain that is greatest at night.

Front 6

cerebral concussion

Back 6

Brief interruption of brain function usually with a loss of consciousness lasting for a few seconds.

Front 7

cerebral contusions

Back 7

Small, scattered venous hemorrhage in the brain or better described as a bruise of the brain tissue, occurring when the brain strikes the inner skull.

Front 8

cerebral palsy

Back 8

Collective term used to describe congenital brain damage that is permanent but not progressive. Characterized by a child's lack of control of voluntary muscles.

Front 9

cerebrovascular accident/stroke

Back 9

Involves death of a specific portion of the brain tissue, resulting from a decrease in blood flow to that area of the brain.

Front 10

grand mal seizure

Back 10

Epilleptic seizure characterized by a sudden loss of consciousness and generalized involuntary muscular contraction, vacillating between rigid body extension and an alternating contracting and relaxing of muscles.

Front 11

petit mal seizure/absence seizure

Back 11

Small seizure in which there is a sudden temporary loss of consciousness, lasting only a few seconds.

Front 12

Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Back 12

Acute polyneuritis; inflammation of the nerves of the periphereral nervous system in which the mylen sheaths on the axons are destroyed resulting from a decrease in nerve impulses, loss of reflex response, and sudden muscle weakness which usually follows a respiratory infection.

Front 13

migraine headaches

Back 13

Recurring, pulsating, vascular headache usually developing on one side of the head; characterized by a slow onset that may be preceded by an aura during which a sensory disturbance occurs, such as confusion or some visual interference.

Front 14

huntington's chorea

Back 14

Inherited neurological disease characterized by rapid, jerky, involunatary movements and increasing dementia due to the effects of the basil ganglia on the neurons.

Front 15

intracranial tumors

Back 15

Occurs in any structural region of the brain. They are either benign, malignant classified by primary or secondary and are named by the tissue from which they originated from.

Front 16

glioma (primary)

Back 16

Tumors arise from these malignant glial cells that are a support for nerve tissue and tumors.

Front 17

Metastatic (secondary)

Back 17

Tissue in the brain reacts intensely to the presence of a metastatic tumor which progresses rapidly. Results from a primary.

Front 18

Multiple sclerosis

Back 18

Degenerative inflammatory disease of the central nervous system attacking the myelin sheath in the spinal cord and brain, leaving it sclerosed (hardened) or scarred.

Front 19

Parkinson's Disease

Back 19

Degenerative, slowly progressive deterioration of nerves in the brain stem's motor system, characterized by a gradual onset of symptoms, such as a stooping posture with the body flexed forward, bowed head, shuffling gait, pill-rolling gestures, maslike facial expressions; muffled speech and swallowing difficulty.

Front 20

Reye's Syndrome

Back 20

Acute brain encephalopathy along with fatty infiltration of the internal organs that may follow acute viral infections.

Front 21

Shingles (herpes zoster)

Back 21

Acute viral infection seen mainly in adults characterized by inflammation of the underlying spinal or cranial nerve pathway producing painful vesicular eruptions on the skin along these nerve pathways.

Front 22

spina bifida occulta

Back 22

Congenital defect of the central nervous system in which the back portion of the one or more vertebrae is not closed normally and a cyst protrudes through the opening in the back, usually at the level of the fifth lumbar or first sacral vertebrae.

Front 23

Tay-Sachs Disease

Back 23

Congenital disorder caused by altered lipid metabolism, resulting from an enzyme deficiency.

Front 24

trigeminal neuralgia (tic douloureaux)

Back 24

Short periods of severe unilateral pain, which radiates along the fifth cranial nerve.