Brain tissue atrophy is a progressive decrease in the number of nerve cells and interneuronal connections which, over time, leads to loss of brain volume (brain shrinkage) and decreased cognitive function, like memory.
What are the symptoms of the condition
What is cerebral atrophy
Brain tissue atrophy is a progressive decrease in the number of nerve cells and interneuronal connections that, over time, leads to loss of brain volume (brain shrinkage) and decreased cognitive function.
Why brain atrophy occurs
Progressive degeneration of the brain is a process that occurs physiologically with advancing age but 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 (a condition causing movement disorders and dementia)
- Craniocerebral trauma (boxers, head trauma), stroke (ischemic or hemorrhagic);
- Brain infections (encephalitis, neurosyphilis, HIV)
- Chronic inflammatory diseases (multiple sclerosis)
- Hereditary metabolic diseases: leukodystrophy (white matter disorder), mitochondrial encephalomyopathies
What are the symptoms of the condition
Brain atrophy can be global or focal depending on the extent of the degenerative processes, this aspect is closely related to the symptoms it causes, most commonly a progressive loss of cognitive performance represented by memory, decision-making ability, orientation in time and space and abstract thinking.
Other symptoms caused by brain atrophy are represented by:
- Aphasia: a 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 in maintaining balance (cerebellar ataxia) and coordination of movements and in some situations difficult speech are specific symptoms of cerebellar atrophy
How to diagnose brain atrophy
The diagnosis of cerebral atrophy is established by the neurologist based on the patient’s history and clinical examination, which includes the use of tests to assess various brain functions such as memory, language, attention or visual orientation in space. 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 is instituted on a case-by-case basis to slow the atrophy process and manage the associated symptoms. Non-medical treatment options for brain atrophy include physical therapy, speech therapy and psychological counseling.
Antibiotics (bacterial infections) and antivirals (viral infections) are successfully used for brain infections that cause brain atrophy. Cerebral atrophy following acute ischemia of the nervous tissue is treated aetiologically and may include, in addition to anticoagulant and antiaggregate medication, a change of lifestyle with the adoption of a low saturated fat diet and regular exercise.
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
- Semantic dementia: A form of circumscribed cerebral atrophy – https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bn/1989/124043/
