Atrophy of brain tissue represents a progressive decrease in the number of nerve cells and interneuronal connections that, over time, lead to the loss of brain volume (shrinking of the brain) and the reduction of cognitive functions.
Why does cerebral atrophy occur?
What is cerebral atrophy?
Atrophy of brain tissue represents a progressive decrease in the number of nerve cells and interneuronal connections that, over time, lead to the loss of brain volume (shrinking of the brain) and the reduction of cognitive functions.
Why does cerebral atrophy occur?
The progressive degeneration of the brain is a process that occurs physiologically with aging, but it can also be encountered in the evolution of certain pathologies represented by:
- Neurodegenerative diseases: Alzheimer’s disease (severe hippocampal atrophy), Pick’s disease (frontotemporal dementia), Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease (condition that causes movement disorders and dementia);
- Craniocerebral trauma (boxers, head trauma), stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic);
- Cerebral infections (encephalitis, neurosyphilis, HIV);
- Chronic inflammatory diseases (multiple sclerosis);
- Hereditary metabolic diseases: leukodystrophy, (affecting the white matter), mitochondrial encephalomyopathies.
- What are the symptoms of the condition?
Cerebral atrophy can be global or focal depending on the extent of the degenerative processes, this aspect being closely related to the symptoms it causes, the most frequent being observed is a progressive loss of cognitive performance represented by memory, decision-making ability, orientation in time and space and abstract thinking.
Other symptoms determined by cerebral atrophy are represented by:
- Aphasia: disorder of expression or understanding of written and spoken language
- Epileptic seizures: involuntary movements, tonic-clonic seizures with loss of consciousness, visual, auditory or gustatory phenomena or behavioral changes
- Difficulty maintaining balance (cerebellar ataxia) and coordinating movements, and in certain situations difficult speech, are specific symptoms of cerebellar atrophy
- How to establish the diagnosis of cerebral atrophy
The diagnosis of cerebral atrophy is established by the neurologist based on the anamnesis and clinical examination of the patient, which includes the use of tests to evaluate different brain functions such as memory, language, attention, or visual orientation in space. The identification of atrophied brain regions is done with the help of medical imaging represented by computer tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance.
Treatment of cerebral atrophy
The treatment of cerebral atrophy is individualized and instituted depending on each individual case in order to slow down the atrophy process and manage the associated symptoms. Non-drug treatment options for cerebral atrophy include physical therapy, speech therapy and psychological counseling.
In the case of cerebral infections that cause cerebral atrophy, antibiotics (bacterial infections) and antivirals (viral infections) are used successfully. Cerebral atrophy occurring after acute ischemia of the nervous tissue is treated etiologically and can include, in addition to anticoagulant and antiplatelet medication, lifestyle changes with the adoption of a diet with a low intake of saturated fats and regular physical exercises.
Find out more:
- Imaging cerebral atrophy: normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease – https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014067360415441X
- Progressive cerebral atrophy in multiple sclerosis A serial MRI study – https://academic.oup.com/brain/article/119/6/2009/466596?login=true
- Semantic dementia: A form of circumscribed cerebral atrophy – https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bn/1989/124043/
