Cerebral Atrophy (Brain Atrophy): Learn about symptoms, causes and treatment

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Cerebral Atrophy (Brain Atrophy)
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Cerebral Atrophy (Brain Atrophy)

• Brain atrophy, which is also known as cerebral
  atrophy, is a health related condition where the
  nerve cells or neurons are lost and the
  connection between them is damaged. This cerebral
  atrophy affects either one or both the
  hemispheres of the brain. In this brain disorder,
  like other atrophies, there is a considerable
  amount of wastage or loss of brain tissues. This
  wastage of brain cells (also called neurons),
  affects the proper functioning of the brain. Loss
  of neurons in the brain is a highly undesirable
  condition as it results in many cognitive and
  neurological problems. There are two types of
  atrophy of the brain - focal atrophy and total or
  generalized atrophy. In focal cerebral atrophy,
  the damage of brain cells is concentrated on a
  particular region of the brain. But in complete
  atrophy, the damage is done to the whole brain
  and this cause is associated with a myriad of
  problems.

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Cerebral Atrophy Causes

• Normally brain stem atrophy is caused due to
  aging. But in some cases, the wastage of brain
  cells can be triggered due to some illnesses,
  which may cause premature wastage or even speed
  up the process. Given below is a list of reasons
  why the cells in the bodys most important organ
  are lost.
• Epilepsy, which is a neurological disorder that
  can result in seizures.
• Kearns Sayre syndrome, a disease that causes
  weakness to the muscles due to mitochondrial
  encephalomyopathies, which is the changes that
  occur in the mitochondria of the cells. This
  syndrome tends to interfere with the proper
  functioning of the neurons.
• A traumatic brain injury resulting in stroke.

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Cerebral Atrophy Causes
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• Some infectious diseases like neurosyphilis, AIDS
  and encephalitis which can lead to the damage of
  the brain cells leading to brain shrinkage by
  destroying the neurons and their axons.
• A condition called multiple sclerosis, where the
  cerebral tissue becomes inflamed and there is
  damage to the myelin (a protective cover on the
  nerve fibres) due to the growth of lesions.
• Cerebral palsy, where there is impairment in the
  coordination of the motor neurons in the damaged
  areas caused due to lesions.
• Krabbe disease, where the myelin sheath that
  protects the axons (also known as nerve fibres)
  is destroyed.
• Certain genetic disorders like Huntingtons
  disease that leads to an increase in the toxic
  levels of proteins in the neurons.
• Other causes of atrophy are Alzheimers
  disease and Picks disease.

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Symptoms

• In some patients chronic or persistent wastage
  of brain stem cells called cachexia is observed.
  Brain cell atrophy is very common in people who
  are suffering from AIDS. An individual who
  suffers from this brain related disease will show
  the following symptoms
• An illness, known as dementia, where the person
  suffers from a loss of memory and cognitive
  skills. The inability to learn, loss of memory
  and disorientation are some of the signs that an
  individual is a dementia patient.
• A condition related to language disorders
  called aphasias, where the individual finds it
  difficult to understand language. There are two
  types of aphasias - expressive aphasias and
  receptive aphasias.

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Symptoms
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• In expressive aphasias, the individual may often
  use incomplete sentences, odd choices of words,
  misspell certain words and use disjointed
  clauses. Receptive aphasias leads to impaired and
  improper comprehension skills.
• Another symptom of cerebral atrophy is seizures,
  which results in convulsions, repetitive
  movements of the limbs and loss of consciousness.

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Treatment

• In order to detect the presence of this
  condition, the affected individual may have to
  undergo a multi resonance imaging (MRI) scan to
  check for any impairments in the brain. The
  treatment depends on the age of the affected
  individual and also on the type of cerebral
  atrophy. If this condition is caused due to
  alcoholism or drug abuse, it is advisable to
  restrict the intake of alcohol and drugs
  completely. The individual can also take brain
  food and vitamin supplements to ensure the proper
  functioning of the brain. And last but not the
  least, practice a healthy lifestyle to ward off
  any diseases. Though there is no certain cure
  for brain cell degeneration, symptomatic
  treatment can be given to the patients suffering
  from this condition. Researchers have been
  carried out to find a cure for this disorder and
  treat it successfully.

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