10-Minute Diagnosis Manual

category - Problems Related to the Nervous System

• Ataxia
  

  Ataxia is the loss of the ability to coordinate muscular movement.Ataxia is caused by the dysfunction of the cerebellum and its afferent and efferent pathways. Ataxia has a broad list of causes.

• Coma
  

  Coma is a sustained period (>1 hour) of unconsciousness that is distinguished from sleep by the inability to arouse the patient.

• Delirium
  

  According to the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV-TR), delirium has the following key features: disturbance of consciousness with a reduced ability to focus, sustain, or shift attention; change in cognition or the development of a perceptual disturbance that is not better accounted for by a preexisting, established, or evolving dementia; disturbance developing over a short period of time (usually hours to days), and tending to fluctuate during the course of the day; evidence from the history, physical examination, or laboratory findings that the disturbance is caused by the direct physiologic consequence of a general medical condition, substance intoxication or withdrawal, a medication side effect or toxin exposure, or a combination of these factors.

• Dementia
  

  Dementia is characterized by memory impairment along with the loss of other cognitive functions. Cognitive deficits may include difficulty with language (aphasia), common motor tasks (apraxia), the identification of common objects (agnosia), or complex and abstract thinking (executive functioning). These deficits must be severe enough that social behavior or independent living is impaired.

• Memory Impairment
  

  Memory impairment refers to the inability to learn new information or recall previously learned information. It can be a component of delirium when accompanied by an altered level of consciousness or a component of dementia in patients with disturbances in behavior, other cognitive functions, and independence. There is a normal cognitive decline with aging that consists of a stable mild memory loss and a decline in the rate of processing new information. This normal cognitive decline does not progress to the point of affecting daily function.

• Paresthesia and Dysesthesia
  

  Paresthesia is a skin sensation, such as burning, prickling, itching, or tingling, with no apparent physical cause. Dysesthesia is defined as either the impairment of sensation, especially that of touch, or a condition in which an unpleasant sensation is produced by ordinary stimuli.

• Seizures
  

  A seizure is the manifestation of a transient, uncontrolled, synchronous discharge of a population of neurons in the cerebral cortex. Some seizures occur as a symptom during the course of an acute neurologic or medical illness; they do not recur after the underlying disorder has resolved. Epilepsy is a chronic disorder characterized by recurrent seizures that are typically unprovoked and unpredictable.

• Stroke
  

  Stroke is defined as an acute neurologic deficit that lasts more than 24 hours. Events lasting <24 hours are referred to as transient ischemic attacks (TIAs).

• Tremors
  

  Tremors, which represent the most common type of movement disorder, are abnormal, involuntary, rhythmical movements. They all stop during sleep.