| Medical Dictionary |
A Medical Dictionary of Medical Terminology
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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a nervous system disease that affects your brain and spinal cord. It damages the myelin sheath, the material that surrounds and protects your nerve cells. This damage slows down or blocks messages between your brain and your body, leading to the symptoms of MS. They can include:
No one knows what causes MS. It may be an autoimmune disease, which happens when your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. Multiple sclerosis affects women more than men. It often begins between the ages of 20 and 40. Usually, the disease is mild, but some people lose the ability to write, speak, or walk.
There is no specific test for MS. Doctors use a medical history, physical exam, neurological exam, MRI, and other tests to diagnose it. There is no cure for MS, but medicines may slow it down and help control symptoms. Physical and occupational therapy may also help.
NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Encephalitis is inflammation (swelling) of the brain. It can happen when an infection or medical condition that affects the brain activates your immune system. The inflammation can cause a wide range of symptoms. In extreme cases, it can lead to brain damage, stroke, or even death.
What causes encephalitis?There are different types of encephalitis, based on what the cause is. The two main types are infectious encephalitis and autoimmune encephalitis.
Infectious encephalitis is usually caused by a virus. In fact, viruses are the most common cause of encephalitis. Some of the different viruses that cause it include:
Bacteria, fungi, and parasites can also cause infectious encephalitis. But this is not common.
Autoimmune encephalitis happens when your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy brain cells. It can be triggered by conditions such as certain cancers, benign tumors, and infections. Sometimes the cause is not known.
Who is more likely to get encephalitis?Anyone can get encephalitis, but you are more likely to get it if you:
The symptoms of encephalitis can vary a lot, depending on how severe it is. Many people do not have any symptoms. Others may have mild flu-like symptoms such as fever, fatigue, headache, or body aches. If encephalitis becomes more serious, it can cause:
Encephalitis can be dangerous in infants. Their symptoms may include:
If you or your child is having symptoms of encephalitis, it's important to get medical care right away.
How is encephalitis diagnosed?To find out if you have encephalitis, your health care provider:
Most people with encephalitis will need treatment in the hospital. Depending on the cause, treatments may include antiviral medicines, antibiotics, corticosteroids, and other medicines.
For some types of encephalitis, there is no medicine to treat it. But rest, nutrition, and fluids can help your body fight the infection and relieve symptoms.
Some people may need physical, speech, and occupational therapy once the illness is under control.
Can encephalitis be prevented?There are steps you can take to help prevent encephalitis that is caused by infections:
NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Meningitis is inflammation of the thin tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, called the meninges. There are several types of meningitis. The most common is viral meningitis. You get it when a virus enters the body through the nose or mouth and travels to the brain. Bacterial meningitis is rare but can be deadly. It usually starts with bacteria that cause a cold-like infection. It can cause stroke, hearing loss, and brain damage. It can also harm other organs. Pneumococcal infections and meningococcal infections are the most common causes of bacterial meningitis.
Anyone can get meningitis, but it is more common in people with weak immune systems. Meningitis can get serious very quickly. You should get medical care right away if you have:
Early treatment can help prevent serious problems, including death. Tests to diagnose meningitis include blood tests, imaging tests, and a spinal tap to test cerebrospinal fluid. Antibiotics can treat bacterial meningitis. Antiviral medicines may help some types of viral meningitis. Other medicines can help treat symptoms.
There are vaccines to prevent some of the bacterial infections that cause meningitis.
NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Your brain is the control center of your body. It controls your thoughts, memory, speech, and movement. It regulates the function of many organs. It's part of your nervous system, which also includes your spinal cord and peripheral nerves. The nervous system sends signals between your brain and the rest of the body. Your nerves take in information from your senses and send it to the brain to be processed. Your brain and nerves also communicate to help you move and to control your body's functions.
When the brain is healthy, it works quickly and automatically. But when you have a brain disease, it may affect how well you can function and do your daily activities. Some common brain diseases include:
The symptoms of brain diseases vary widely, depending on the specific problem. In some cases, damage is permanent. In other cases, treatments such as surgery, medicines, or therapies such as physical, occupational, and speech therapies, may cure the disease or improve the symptoms.
A brain tumor is a growth of abnormal cells in the tissues of the brain. Brain tumors can be benign, with no cancer cells, or malignant, with cancer cells that grow quickly. Some are primary brain tumors, which start in the brain. Others are metastatic, and they start somewhere else in the body and move to the brain.
Brain tumors can cause many symptoms. Some of the most common are:
Doctors diagnose brain tumors by doing a neurologic exam and tests including an MRI, CT scan, and biopsy. Treatment options include watchful waiting, surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. Targeted therapy uses drugs or other substances that attack cancer cells with less harm to normal cells. Many people get a combination of treatments.
NIH: National Cancer Institute
Cancer begins in your cells, which are the building blocks of your body. Normally, your body forms new cells as you need them, replacing old cells that die. Sometimes this process goes wrong. New cells grow even when you don't need them, and old cells don't die when they should. These extra cells can form a mass called a tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors aren't cancer while malignant ones are. Cells from malignant tumors can invade nearby tissues. They can also break away and spread to other parts of the body.
Cancer is not just one disease but many diseases. There are more than 100 different types of cancer. Most cancers are named for where they start. For example, lung cancer starts in the lung, and breast cancer starts in the breast. The spread of cancer from one part of the body to another is called metastasis. Symptoms and treatment depend on the cancer type and how advanced it is. Most treatment plans may include surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. Some may involve hormone therapy, immunotherapy or other types of biologic therapy, or stem cell transplantation.
NIH: National Cancer Institute
Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare disorder that causes your immune system to attack your peripheral nervous system (PNS). The PNS nerves connect your brain and spinal cord with the rest of your body. Damage to these nerves makes it hard for them to transmit signals. As a result, your muscles have trouble responding to your brain. No one knows what causes the syndrome. Sometimes it is triggered by an infection, surgery, or a vaccination.
The first symptom is usually weakness or a tingling feeling in your legs. The feeling can spread to your upper body. In severe cases, you become almost paralyzed. This is life-threatening. You might need a respirator to breathe. Symptoms usually worsen over a period of weeks and then stabilize.
Guillain-Barre can be hard to diagnose. Possible tests include nerve tests and a spinal tap. Most people recover. Recovery can take a few weeks to a few years. Treatment can help symptoms, and may include medicines or a procedure called plasma exchange.
NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Your spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that runs down the middle of your back. It carries signals back and forth between your body and your brain. It is protected by your vertebrae, which are the bone disks that make up your spine. If you have an accident that damages the vertebrae or other parts of the spine, this can also injure the spinal cord. Other spinal cord problems include:
Symptoms vary but might include pain, numbness, loss of sensation and muscle weakness. These symptoms can occur around the spinal cord, and also in other areas such as your arms and legs. Treatments often include medicines and surgery.
Leukemia is a term for cancers of the blood cells. Leukemia starts in blood-forming tissues such as the bone marrow. Your bone marrow makes the cells which will develop into white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Each type of cell has a different job:
When you have leukemia, your bone marrow makes large numbers of abnormal cells. This problem most often happens with white blood cells. These abnormal cells build up in your bone marrow and blood. They crowd out the healthy blood cells and make it hard for your cells and blood to do their work.
What is acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)?Acute lymphocytic leukemia is a type of acute leukemia. It's also called ALL and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. "Acute" means that it usually gets worse quickly if it's not treated. ALL is the most common type of cancer in children. It can also affect adults.
In ALL, the bone marrow makes too many lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. These cells normally help your body fight infection. But in ALL, they are abnormal and cannot fight infection very well. They also crowd out the healthy cells, which can lead to infection, anemia, and easy bleeding. These abnormal cells can also spread to other parts of the body, including the brain and spinal cord.
What causes acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)?ALL happens when there are changes in the genetic material (DNA) in bone marrow cells. The cause of these genetic changes is unknown. However, there are certain factors that raise your risk of ALL.
Who is at risk for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)?The factors that raise your risk of ALL include:
The signs and symptoms of ALL include:
Your health care provider may use many tools to diagnose ALL and figure out which subtype you have:
If you are diagnosed with ALL, you may have additional tests to see whether the cancer has spread. These include imaging tests and a lumbar puncture, which is a procedure to collect and test cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
What are the treatments for acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL)?Treatments for ALL include:
Treatment is usually done in two phases:
Treatment during both phases also usually includes central nervous system (CNS) prophylaxis therapy. This therapy helps prevent the spread of leukemia cells to the brain and spinal cord. It may be high dose chemotherapy or chemotherapy injected into the spinal cord. It also sometimes includes radiation therapy.
NIH: National Cancer Institute
Leukemia is a term for cancers of the blood cells. Leukemia starts in blood-forming tissues such as the bone marrow. Your bone marrow makes the cells which will develop into white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. Each type of cell has a different job:
When you have leukemia, your bone marrow makes large numbers of abnormal cells. This problem most often happens with white blood cells. These abnormal cells build up in your bone marrow and blood. They crowd out the healthy blood cells and make it hard for your cells and blood to do their work.
What is acute myeloid leukemia (AML)?Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a type of acute leukemia. "Acute" means that the leukemia usually gets worse quickly if it's not treated. In AML, the bone marrow makes abnormal myeloblasts (a type of white blood cell), red blood cells, or platelets. When the abnormal cells crowd out the healthy cells, it can lead to infection, anemia, and easy bleeding. The abnormal cells can also spread outside the blood to other parts of the body.
There are several different subtypes of AML. The subtypes are based on how developed the cancer cells are when you get your diagnosis and how different they are from normal cells.
What causes acute myeloid leukemia (AML)?AML happens when there are changes in the genetic material (DNA) in bone marrow cells. The cause of these genetic changes is unknown. However, there are certain factors that raise your risk of AML.
Who is at risk for acute myeloid leukemia (AML)?The factors that raise your risk of AML include:
The signs and symptoms of AML include:
Your health care provider may use many tools to diagnose AML and figure out which subtype you have:
If you are diagnosed with AML, you may have additional tests to see whether the cancer has spread. These include imaging tests and a lumbar puncture, which is a procedure to collect and test cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).
What are the treatments for acute myeloid leukemia (AML)?Treatments for AML include:
Which treatment you get often depends on which subtype of AML you have. Treatment is usually done in two phases:
NIH: National Cancer Institute