Cerebral Atrophy

by Tracy Kakish
Rebecca Naddaf
Atoine Harb
  Loss of brain cells (neurons) and synapses.
 Atrophy: decrease of the cell size.
 It occurs naturally in all humans, but it can be accelerated.

Pathophysiolog   May occur in harboring tumor brain.

y  It can be focal atrophy or generalized atrophy.

 Life expectancy among patients with this disease can be
influenced by the condition that caused the brain shrinkage.
Brain MRI. Axial T2 images shows cerebral
atrophy in patient with Alzheimer’s disease
(A) and normal brain in control patient of
same age (B).
Clinical manifestation
  Dementia (impared ability to remember). (generalized)
 Seizure (uncontrolled electrical disturbance in the brain).
(focal atrophy)
 Loss of motor control
Signs and  Difficulty in speeking, comprehention or reading.
 NB: dementia may be mild or severe and may worsen
symptoms. with increasing atrophy.
 • Changes in mood.
• Difficulty in judgment or abstract thinking
Generalized •
•
Difficulty with memory, thinking, talking.
Disorientation
symptoms • Learning impairments

• blurred or double vision

• difficulty producing or understanding speech
Localized (aphasia).
• Impaired balance and coordination
symptoms • Localized weakness, loss of sensation or
paralysis.
CEREBRAL ATROPHY

Cerebral Atrophy : detected by long and complex tests and scans:

Diagnostic 1- MRI
2- CT scan of the brain

criteria 3- Medical history of the patient

4- Brain function tests.
 This is the CT Through this scan we
can clearly see the site
scan of a of the atrophy in the
brain
cerebral atrophy
 Till now: no treatment/known cure for cerebral atrophy.
Healthy life style : slow down the rate of the atrophy and
reduce the severe symptoms
But some symptoms can be treated: through therapy and
medications (like dementia, seizures, infections.)

Cerebral atrophy
treatement No cure or treatment because:
 Cerebral atrophy is the loss of neurons
 Causes a permanent damage in the brain
  Brain atrophy is a phenom that starts around the age of 30 or 40
years. However, this atrophy dramatically increases around 60
years of age.
 Aging cannot be stopped and brain atrophy can cause many
undesired side effects that were already listed (memory loss,
communication)

Relation between
age and atrophy  The degree of brain atrophy can be predicted with the age as
people at old become more sedentary and start being less
careful towards their nutrition.
 As a person becomes more sedentary and less active, the blood
flow in the brain will be reduced hence helping in the atrophy
of the brain.
  A patient’s maturity can be measured on different scales:
 Physical / intellectual / social maturity
 these different scales become to lower as a person becomes
older.

Relation between
maturity and
 So the maturity of a patient can help predict and affect the
atrophy degree of cerebral atrophy a patient will face.
 It is known that it is last parts of the brain to develop that will
begin to atrophy, so the frontal and temporal are those at risk.
 These lobes are responsible for communication and memory.
  If the intellectual maturity responsible for most of the logical
and technical task and the social maturity responsible for
someone’s social abilities start to decay early. Then the brain
lobes associated with these capacities will atrophy earlier and a
faster than other parts.

The different
types of maturity  As already mentioned physical activity is important to reduce
brain atrophy, so if physical maturity in charge of someone’s
ability to perform physical task decays, then atrophy may also
appear at a faster rate.
  Since aging cannot be stopped:
 Doing physical abilities will boost the bloodflow to the brain hence
reducing this atrophy
 Eating healthy can be very benefitial for brain health
Ways to reduce  Staying mentally active by reading books and playing games

cerebral atrophy  Last but least stay social and try staying in contact with friends and family