Major diseases in the Department of Encephalopathy

I believe that brain disease is a disease that no one can imagine, because most of the time, diseases in the brain will seriously threaten a person's life and health. Therefore, people are reluctant to imagine what impact brain diseases will have on their bodies, but in fact there are many different types of brain diseases. The following article will introduce several main types of brain diseases.

Causes of Encephalopathy

Encephalopathy caused by cranial nerve factors

The brain is directly affected by viral infection, physical trauma, chemical poisoning, high fever, ischemia or hypoxia (stroke) and other reasons, which lead to damage and death of brain nerve cells. In severe cases, it is life-threatening, while in mild cases, it may cause cerebral palsy, hemiplegia and other diseases. Excessive use of the brain, long-term lack of sleep, aging and lack of neuronutrients may cause premature aging and degeneration of the brain, resulting in memory loss, decreased intelligence, changes in spirit, personality, mood, sleep and motor ability, and in severe cases, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

Encephalopathy caused by cerebrovascular factors

Brain diseases caused by cerebral vascular degeneration or lesions, which develop acutely and rapidly lead to brain dysfunction, are called acute cerebrovascular diseases, also known as cerebrovascular accidents, cerebral strokes or strokes. They are characterized by high incidence, high disability rate and high recurrence rate, and are common and frequently occurring diseases among middle-aged and elderly people. Since age is an unmodifiable risk factor for cerebral arteriosclerosis, the risk of cerebrovascular disease increases with age, and the older the age, the higher the incidence rate. The occurrence of cerebrovascular disease is also closely related to environmental factors, climatic factors, eating habits, etc. Its risk factors are divided into modifiable risk factors and non-modifiable risk factors. Intervenible risk factors refer to risk factors that can be controlled or treated, including: ① hypertension, ② diabetes, ③ hyperlipidemia, ④ heart disease, ⑤ transient ischemic attack (TIA), ⑥ carotid artery stenosis, ⑦ history of cerebrovascular disease, ⑧ smoking, and ⑨ alcoholism. Non-interventional risk factors refer to risk factors that cannot be controlled or treated, including: ① age, ② gender, ③ genetics, and ④ race.

Cerebrovascular diseases are divided into cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, hypertensive encephalopathy and other types of arterial diseases according to arterial damage. Venous injury is mainly classified into intracranial venous thrombosis, among which cerebral infarction and cerebral hemorrhage are the most common. Cerebral hemorrhage refers to bleeding in the brain parenchyma due to rupture of cerebral arteries, veins or capillaries, accounting for about 20-30% of all cerebrovascular diseases. The possibility of cerebral hemorrhage should be considered in middle-aged and elderly people who suddenly experience obvious headache, vomiting, impaired consciousness, aphasia or paralysis while in motion. Brain CT scan can easily confirm the diagnosis and distinguish it from other diseases.

Symptoms of encephalopathy

Symptoms of bilirubin encephalopathy

In addition to severe brain damage, namely kernicterus, bilirubin encephalopathy is more likely to present mild brain damage caused by transient bilirubin neurotoxicity.

This type of bilirubin neurotoxicity does not have obvious clinical symptoms and serious consequences like kernicterus. Instead, it is short-lived, reversible and relatively harmless. It may be asymptomatic and only present as a subclinical state with abnormal brainstem evoked potentials and magnetic resonance imaging. Even if there are clinical manifestations, they are only changes in crying characteristics and behavioral abnormalities.

Symptoms of hypertensive encephalopathy

Before the onset of hypertensive encephalopathy, there is a sudden increase in blood pressure, headache, nausea, vomiting, irritability, etc., followed by severe headache, projectile vomiting, bradycardia (sometimes tachycardia), strong pulse, difficulty or slow breathing, visual impairment, blackouts, convulsions and even coma. Temporary hemiplegia, hemisensory disturbances, aphasia, etc. may also occur.

If effective measures such as lowering blood pressure can be taken quickly, the above symptoms may disappear; otherwise, cerebral edema and increased intracranial pressure will continue to worsen, inevitably leading to irreversible damage to the brain, and the patient will experience persistent symptoms or limited limb sensory and motor disorders.