Reserch and Explain Causes of Stroke and How to Manage it? (Essay Sample)

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Antranic (2011), points out that the brain is divided into six lobes which are responsible for numerous roles within the body such as hearing, vision, sense of touch and so forth. The skull encloses the brain, is made up of nerve cells which are situated at various locations in the brain. This assignment will look at Stroke, Pituitary Tumour and Cerebral Palsy, where it affects the brain and how these functional impacts can affect visual rehabilitation.
Stroke is caused by blockage of an artery by a clot restricting the supply of blood to that area of the brain or a rupture of an artery causing cerebral haemorrhage. When the supply of blood that contains oxygen, nutrients and glucose is cut off, the brain cells, the delicate brain cells can be damaged and quickly loses its functionality or die (American Heart Stroke Association 2006).
The effects of the stroke depend on which part of the brain damaged. The two sides of the brain control the opposite side of the body, (American Heart Stroke Association 2006). The brain has four main structures, the left and right cerebral hemispheres, the brain stem and cerebellum can suffer damage resulting from stroke attack.
“When there is a blockage or bleeding affecting the right side of the brain it does affect the left side of the brain causing symptoms like partial or paralysis called left-sided hemiplegia” (Antranic 2011, pp. 44). The precise hemisphere is also in charge of the movement of the left and analytical, judgement and perceptual of tasks, thus resulting in difficulty in judging distance, assessing where the body parts are or reaching out to things and completing fine motor movements. Right hemisphere patients can develop denial syndrome, and they may not realise or forget that they have a stroke or a disabling condition. It can cause impulsiveness and loss of awareness of individual limitation. Other areas affected are; short-term memory, attention and inability to concentrate, behavioural and emotional abilities, disorientation, problem-solving, reasoning and loss of humour, appreciation and inappropriate speech (Robert 2016, pp. 10-66).
The left- hemisphere stroke may exhibit the same problem to the right as stated above and are called right-sided hemiplegia. The left sided region contains the speech centre, Broca’s and Wernicke’s area. Any damage can affect individual’s interpretation and understanding of spoken language and to produce speech resulting in either Dysphasia or Aphasia (Antranic 2011).
Cerebellar Stroke affecting the Cerebellum can be more disabling because this is the area that controls information that is transmitted to other parts of the body all the time. It controls the reflexes and balance that helps us to maintain coordination. The brain stem lies at the “heart” of the brain and sits just above the spinal cord. It is a relay centre that monitors and process incoming information before sending it to the upper region of the brain. It regulates several functions that are vital for survival like controls breathing, swallowing, hearing, heartbeat, blood pressure and eye movements (American Heart Stroke Association 2006). Stroke affecting this area of the brain can threaten the vital functions leading to life-threatening conditions. (See Appendix. A. Case Study)
The majority of Pituitary tumours are benign and grow slowly and cancerous pituitary tumours are rare. Pituitary tumour (adenomas), accounts for 15% of intracranial tumours (Liu et al. 2010, pp. 47-66). Pituitary tumours are classified as functional and non-functional. Non-functioning tumours are large and account for 30% of all pituitary tumours (Liu et al. 2010, pp. 47-66). Due to its closeness to the Optic chiasm, because the nerve axons at the intersection have been inferred it can cause pressures like symptoms like headaches, loss of visual acuity causing visual field defects and lose of vision in the temporal areas of both eyes. However, when the tumour does grow forward and compresses the optic nerve, it can cause Optic nerve atrophy. If the tumour compresses on oculomotor, trochlear and abducens nerves whose functions is to control eye movement, it can potentially result in impaired functional of one or more of the extraocular muscles causing diplopia, (Kandel 2013).
As discussed by Kandel (2013, pp. 1533–1549), the tumour continues to grow and compresses on the normal pituitary tissue, it can cause failure to its functionality, which causes hormones to be under secreted. Because of compression of the portal vessels and pituitary stalk by the expanding tumour causing diminished hypothalamic hormones of the pituitary cells.
A reduction in thyroid secretion hormone can lead to hypothyroidism, which can cause loss of appetite, fatigue and decreased mental functioning. Adults can experience induced tiredness, lose of muscle mass and tone. (Kandel 2013, pp. 1533–1549).
Hydrocephalus is referred as a build of excessive fluid on the brain, thus causing pressures on the brain, which can damage the brain functionality, (The injury to the brain can cause varied symptoms that include; a headache, being sick, blurred vision and inability to walk. The acceptable definition of Hydrocephalus is “A spectrum of conditions where there is a disturbance in cerebral fluid dynamics” (Kandel 2013, pp. 1533–1549).
Increased cerebrospinal fluid (CFS) within the brain, causes enlargement of the cerebral ventricles. In infants with open fontanel, it is commonly associated with increased head circumference while in children and adults it can cause raised intracranial pressures.
Hydrocephalus can be classified as obstructive and None obstructive hydrocephalus that occurs when CSF exit the ventricles and into the spinal canal, but not being reabsorbed back into the brain tissue while obstructive hydrocephalus occurs when CSF does not flow correctly to other ventricles due to malfunction or narrowing of the ventricles. Most distinct features of hydrocephalus are a rapid increase in head circumference resulting from the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid thus expanding the head or macrocephaly (Liu et al. 2010, pp. 47-66).
The impact of hydrocephalus depends on the area of the body where the blockage or irregular accumulation of CSF is situated. The pressure in the skull is either caused by the production of CSF or blood pressures being pumped into the brain. Like any other brain injury, we have to look at specific areas affected by pressures result from malfunction of CFS. If there is an increase in fluid around the frontal lobe causing substation damage, will impacts on the motor control of voluntary muscles, personality disorder, concentration, organisation and problem solving (Liu et al. 2010, pp. 47-66).
These impacts will be as a result of the pressures affecting different parts of the brain. Axonal damage within periventricular white matter resulting from hydrocephalus effects on the motor and cognitive. According to Hillis et al. (2011), in their study of papilledema, they concluded that excessive pressure occurring in CSF and putting pressure on the blood supply to the eye can cause damage to the optic nerve thus leading to Optic atrophy. High CSF pressures affects the heart and breathing process, thus affecting a person ability to perform tasks or going up the stairs. Robert (2016, pp. 10-66). Posterior and frontal lobe can be damaged by CSF pressure exerting on this areas, thus resulting in language deficiency and speech interpretation, (Wernicke’s or Boca Aphasia). Problems of perception can result from damage to the Visual Cortex and this can lead to problems with understanding positioning about objects, depth perception, and speed and judging distance.
Children may experience seizures caused by a shunt not working well. These effects and implications can hurt visual rehabilitation because these children would have undergone very traumatic experiences right from when there were young regarding surgery and the stigma having to deal with enlarged brain or Microcephaly brain amongst other children. This child may experience expressive language problems resulting from damage to the posterior and frontal lope and might not be able to express themselves in a manner that is understood and this will be a problem to rehabilitation worker trying to assess and establish needs of this individuals. Teaching orientation and mobility can be a problem due to gait, poor balance and coordination resulting from damage to motor cortex and the problem with perception concerning understanding positions about objects in depth perception and judging distance.
In conclusion: the brain is responsible for the proper functioning of the body. Any minor damages no the brain can result in impairments of the body. An injury on either side of the brain is not as severe as on both sides of the brain. If an injury occurs on both sides of the brain, the victim will suffer from a severe disorder.
Brain impairment affects the functioning of the body by the victim finding it challenging to communicate, have a reduced attention span or is visual impairment. Visual impairment can occur in individuals as a result of this brain defect. (Mestecky 2010, pp. 222-226).
Teaching orientation and mobility to a person who has had a stroke can be difficult at the start. Hillis, et al. (2011) described orientation as “knowing oneself, as a disconnect being, in which one is in space, where one wants to shift into liberty, and how to get to that place. Someone with a stroke will have a problem in decision making if there is damage to frontal lobe responsible for motor control of voluntary muscles, personality, concentration, organisation and problem solving (Liu et al. 2010, pp. 47-66). Hemiplegia makes impacts on muscle t...