Cerebellar damage

Synonyms

Medical: Cerebellum (lat.)

English: cerebrellum

introduction

If the cerebellum is damaged, specific neurological symptoms can occur.

Illustration outline of the brain

Cerebrum (1st - 6th) = endbrain -
Telencephalon (Cerembrum)

  1. Frontal lobe - Frontal lobe
  2. Parietal lobe - Parietal lobe
  3. Occipital lobe -
    Occipital lobe
  4. Temporal lobe -
    Temporal lobe
  5. Bar - Corpus callosum
  6. Lateral ventricle -
    Lateral ventricle
  7. Midbrain - Mesencephalon
    Diencephalon (8th and 9th) -
    Diencephalon
  8. Pituitary gland - Hypophysis
  9. Third ventricle -
    Ventriculus tertius
  10. Bridge - Pons
  11. Cerebellum - Cerebellum
  12. Midbrain aquifer -
    Aqueductus mesencephali
  13. Fourth ventricle - Ventriculus quartus
  14. Cerebellar hemisphere - Hemispherium cerebelli
  15. Elongated Mark -
    Myelencephalon (Medulla oblongata)
  16. Big cistern -
    Cisterna cerebellomedullaris posterior
  17. Central canal (of the spinal cord) -
    Central canal
  18. Spinal cord - Medulla spinalis
  19. External cerebral water space -
    Subarachnoid space
    (leptomeningeum)
  20. Optic nerve - Optic nerve

    Forebrain (Prosencephalon)
    = Cerebrum + diencephalon
    (1.-6. + 8.-9.)
    Hindbrain (Metencephalon)
    = Bridge + cerebellum (10th + 11th)
    Hindbrain (Rhombencephalon)
    = Bridge + cerebellum + elongated medulla
    (10. + 11. + 15)
    Brain stem (Truncus encephali)
    = Midbrain + bridge + elongated medulla
    (7. + 10. + 15.)

You can find an overview of all Dr-Gumpert images at: medical illustrations

Ataxia

In the event of damage (lesion) to the cerebellum in any form (due to bleeding, a tumor, poisoning (intoxication), Cerebellar atrophy, inflammatory diseases like the Multiple sclerosis and other injuries) the primary symptom is a so-called Ataxia. The word is stolen from the Greek, there means ataxia as much as disorder. Ataxia can come in several forms. In the Trunk ataxia patients can no longer sit upright without aids, with one Stand ataxia The same applies to standing upright Gait ataxia (the word ataxia is often used synonymously for this form of coordination disorder) the patients show an unsteady gait. With another form of ataxia - the so-called afferent ataxia (as described above, afferre means to feed) there are major problems when performing target motor skills (e.g. reaching for something).

Chanting language

Another symptom of the cerebellar lesion is the so-called chanting language (According to Charcot, term comes from Latin and means something like bumpy, blurred, indistinct), which comes about because muscles are just as involved in speaking words as in standing or running. And the fine-tuning of these muscles is due to damage to the cerebellum - just like with the Ataxia - disturbed.

General information

The typical symptoms listed, such as an unsteady, unsteady gait, balance problems, difficulties in performing targeted movements and coordinating various movements, as well as indistinct speech, can be reversed in the case of excessive Alcohol consumption observe.

An interesting experiment on the symptoms of severe cerebellar lesions is the following: A patient with such damage throws a few darts at a dartboard without any significant problems. Then he gets a glasses put on, which shifts everything around it by 15 degrees. (So-called prism glasses). The dartboard now seems to be 15 degrees further to the right / left in his eyes, so that he will first throw in exactly this different direction. After the throw, he takes off his glasses and checks his throw result. A healthy person, after a few attempts in which he has thrown a lot wrong, would be able, with the help of his cerebellum, to compensate for the wrong vision that the glasses force on him by simply throwing 15 degrees against the direction that is suggested to him and so on hits the dartboard again. A patient with a cerebellar lesion, however, is - no matter how often he tries - not able to adapt to this new situation, he will aim permanently by 15 degrees off. The cerebellum therefore makes a significant contribution to compensating for visual misinformation.