Grade is based on completeness of each response. 1.) While playing football, Bil
ID: 3479744 • Letter: G
Question
Grade is based on completeness of each response.
1.) While playing football, Bill is tackled hard, and as he tries to get up, he finds he cannot flex his left thigh or extend his left knee. Which nerve, specifically, is damaged, and how would the damage affect sensory perception in Bill’s left leg (crura)?
2.) What would happen if the dorsal root of a spinal nerve were damage or transected?
3.) A condition known as Bell’s palsy is thought to be caused by inflammation of the facial nerve (VII). What signs and symptoms would you expect to see in a person suffering from this condition?
4.) While having some dental work performed, John is given an injection of local anesthetic in his lower jaw. His dentist tells him not to eat until the anesthetic wears off, not because of his teeth but because of his tongue. Why is the dentist giving John this advice?
5.) Mary develops a clot that blocks the right branch of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), a blood vessel that supplies the anterior (rostral) portion of the right cerebral hemisphere. What symptoms would you expect to observe as a result of this blockage? Identify the specific parts of the brain the MCA supplies to help you answer the question.
Explanation / Answer
1) While playing football, Bill is tackled hard, and as he tries to get up, he finds he cannot flex his left thigh or extend his left knee. Which nerve, specifically, is damaged, and how would the damage affect sensory perception in Bill’s left leg (crura)?
It could be femoral nerve damage. Two nerves arise from the sacral plexus of spinal nerves L4-S4 are sciatic nerve and pudental nerve. The sciatic nerve passes posterior to femur, deep to the long head of the biceps femoris muscle. As it approaches the knee, the sciatic nerve divides into two branches:- fubular nerve and tibial nerve.
The femoral nerve is located in the leg. It helps the muscles move the hip and straighten the leg. It provides feeling (sensation) to the front of the thigh and part of the lower leg.
A nerve is made up of many fibers, called axons, surrounded by insulation, called the myelin sheath.
Damage to a nerve such as the femoral nerve is called mononeuropathy. Mononeuropathy usually means there is a local cause of the nerve damage, although disorders that involve the entire body (systemic disorders) can also cause isolated nerve damage (such as occurs with mononeuritis multiplex).
Prolonged pressure on the nerve decreases blood flow in the area. This can lead to further complications.
The femoral nerve can be also be damaged if you have:
Symptoms
2)What would happen if the dorsal root of a spinal nerve were damage or transected?
The dorsal (aka "posterior" aka "back") root of your spinal cord carries sensory information from your periphery (i.e. skin) and relays it to your central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).Specifically, the 2 dorsal roots (left side & right side) present at each level of your spinal cord are made up of neuronal cells. Where their cell bodies bundle together is large enough to appear as a budge. This is the dorsal root ganglia - "ganglia" being defined as a collection of neuronal cell bodies.
Axonal fibers from this dorsal root ganglia go in both directions:
A fully cut dorsal root would eliminate feelings of touch, pressure, vibration, pain, temperature, positioning in that side of your body at the respective dermatome. A partial injury may cause changed sensation in any of those dimensions due to signaling gone awry: burning, tingling, partial numbness, neuropathic pain.
Voluntary motor control is retained because this is conducted through the motor neuron pathway in the ventral root, but coordination will be much worse because you won't be able to feel where your limb is.
Eg- If your left dorsal root at spinal level C8 is injured, among other areas of your back and arm being affected, your left pinky, the far half of your left ring finger, and the side of your left hand opposite your thumb would all feel numb.
This is what feels strange and tingly when you hit your "funny bone" in the back of your elbow. What's happening is that you're hitting your ulnar nerve which is one of the several nerves in your arm that feeds sensory information from your hand via the dorsal root at level C8 (the ulnar nerve also feeds into T1).
3) A condition known as Bell’s palsy is thought to be caused by inflammation of the facial nerve (VII). What signs and symptoms would you expect to see in a person suffering from this condition?
Bell’s palsy is a condition that causes a temporary weakness or paralysis of the muscles in the face. It can occur when the nerve that controls your facial muscles becomes inflamed, swollen, or compressed.
Signs and Symptoms of Bell’s palsy
The symptoms of Bell’s palsy can develop one to two weeks after you have a cold, ear infection, or eye infection. They usually appear abruptly, and you may notice them when you wake up in the morning or when you try to eat or drink.
Bell’s palsy is marked by a droopy appearance on one side of the face and the inability to open or close your eye on the affected side. In rare cases, Bell’s palsy may affect both sides of your face.
Other signs and symptoms of Bell’s palsy include:-
4.) While having some dental work performed, John is given an injection of local anesthetic in his lower jaw. His dentist tells him not to eat until the anesthetic wears off, not because of his teeth but because of his tongue. Why is the dentist giving John this advice?
The local anesthetic temporarily numbs portions of the hypoglossal nerve (XII), which controls movements of the tongue. If John tries to eat before the anesthetic wears off, he could severely bite his tongue, lips or cheeks. Movements of the tongue manipulate food during chewing and help initiate the swallowing reflex, so the inability to move food within the mouth could result in choking. There is no sensation at all till he get all sensation back. In perineural areas also, damage can occur.
5.) Mary develops a clot that blocks the right branch of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), a blood vessel that supplies the anterior (rostral) portion of the right cerebral hemisphere. What symptoms would you expect to observe as a result of this blockage? Identify the specific parts of the brain the MCA supplies to help you answer the question.
You would expect to observe some degree of paralysis on the left side of Mary's body,relative to the amount of motor cortex deprived of blood. You might also observe some degree of memory loss, mood changes, and impairment of planning abilities.
Middle cerebral artery syndrome is a condition whereby the blood supply from the middle cerebral artery (MCA) is restricted, leading to a reduction of the function of the portions of the brain supplied by that vessel: the lateral aspects of frontal, temporal and parietal lobes, the corona radiata, globus pallidus, caudate and putamen. The MCA is the most common site for the occurrence of ischemic stroke.
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