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Human health and medicine

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Cerebral autoregulation

Cerebral autoregulation is the ability of the brain's blood vessels to keep blood flow nearly constant despite changes in blood pressure, classically between 50 and 150 mmHg perfusion pressure.

Cerebral autosomal recessive arteriopathy-subcortical infarcts-leukoencephalopathy

CARASIL (Maeda syndrome, OMIM 600142) is a rare autosomal recessive cerebral small vessel disease caused by HTRA1 mutations, causing early gait disturbance, alopecia, back pain, ischemic stroke, and dementia, mainly in Japanese patients.

Cerebral cavernous malformation

Cavernous hemangioma, also called cavernous malformation or cavernoma, is a cluster of dilated thin-walled CNS blood vessels prone to bleeding; 0.5% prevalence, 85% sporadic, familial forms from CCM1/2/3 mutations.

Cerebral circulation

Cerebral circulation: the arterial, capillary, and venous system supplying the brain, including the circle of Willis, autoregulation (~50 mL/100 g/min, CPP 60-160 mmHg), CO2 reactivity, neurovascular coupling, and the blood-brain barrier.

Cerebral contusion

Cerebral contusion, a traumatic brain bruise from impact against the inner skull, differs from concussion by being structurally visible on CT and MRI; it affects frontal and temporal lobes, progresses in 40-50% of cases, and carries 30-40% mortality in severe TBI.

Cerebral cortex

Cerebral cortex: the outermost, folded gray-matter sheet of the brain (neocortex, 2–5 mm, six layers), about 80% of human brain volume, carrying cognition, language, and sensory-motor areas mapped by Brodmann.

Cerebral Cortex (journal)

Cerebral Cortex is a monthly peer-reviewed neuroscience journal published by Oxford University Press since 1991, dedicated to research on the development, organization, plasticity, and function of the cerebral cortex.

Cerebral cryptococcosis

Cerebral cryptococcosis, or cryptococcal meningitis/meningoencephalitis, is CNS infection by Cryptococcus neoformans or C. gattii after lung infection, mainly in advanced HIV; marked by raised intracranial pressure and treated with amphotericin B, flucytosine, and fluconazole.

Cerebral Decortication

Cerebral decortication is partial or total removal, ablation, or chemical destruction of the cerebral cortex, mainly an experimental mammalian preparation; its clinical descendant is hemispherectomy for epilepsy, and decorticate posturing is the related coma sign.

Cerebral edema

Cerebral edema, also called brain swelling, is abnormal water accumulation in brain cells or interstitium, raising intracranial pressure. Subtypes include vasogenic, cytotoxic, osmotic, and interstitial edema; treated with osmotherapy, drainage, or decompressive craniectomy.

Cerebral embolic protection

Cerebral embolic protection uses percutaneous devices, placed during procedures like TAVR, to capture or divert debris before it can reach the brain and cause stroke.

Cerebral hemisphere

Cerebral hemisphere: one of the two halves of the cerebrum, separated by the longitudinal fissure and joined by the corpus callosum. Divided into frontal, parietal, temporal, occipital lobes, and insula; lateralized for language (left) and spatial/face processing (right).

Cerebral hypoxia

Cerebral hypoxia (hypoxic/anoxic encephalopathy) is insufficient oxygen delivery to the brain, causing cell death within minutes; causes include cardiac arrest, drowning, and carbon monoxide poisoning, treated with oxygen, ventilation, and cooling.

Cerebral infarction

Cerebral infarction, the lesion of ischemic stroke, is brain tissue death from blocked blood flow by thrombosis, embolism, or atherosclerotic stenosis; classified by TOAST and OCSP subtypes and treated with thrombolysis and thrombectomy.

Cerebral ischaemic stroke

Cerebral ischaemic stroke, also called acute ischemic stroke or brain infarction, is stroke from a clot blocking a brain artery. Treated with thrombolysis (tPA, tenecteplase) and thrombectomy up to 24 hours; AHA/ASA 2026 guideline governs care.

Cerebral oedema

Cerebral edema is the abnormal buildup of water in brain tissue, a potentially fatal complication of stroke, trauma, infection, and tumors; the rigid skull lets pressure rise and compress the brainstem.

Cerebral oximetry

Cerebral oximetry is a noninvasive optical method that measures regional oxygen saturation of brain tissue through the intact skull using near-infrared spectroscopy, used in surgery, critical care, and neonatology.

Cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy, also called cerebral paresis, is a group of permanent movement and posture disorders caused by non-progressive disturbances of the developing fetal or infant brain.

Cerebral perfusion pressure

Cerebral perfusion pressure is the net pressure gradient driving blood to the brain, equal to mean arterial pressure minus intracranial pressure, normally 60 to 80 mm Hg.

Cerebral proliferative angiopathy

Cerebral proliferative angiopathy (CPA), formerly diffuse nidus or holohemispheric giant AVM, is a rare brain vascular malformation with diffuse vessels among normal brain, no compact nidus, headaches and seizures, mainly conservative treatment.

Cerebral revascularization

Cerebral revascularization is a set of neurosurgical procedures, including direct EC-IC bypass and indirect onlay techniques, that restore blood flow to the brain when arteries are narrowed or occluded.

Cerebral shunt

Cerebral shunt, also called CSF or brain shunt, including the ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt: implanted catheter-and-valve system draining excess cerebrospinal fluid from brain ventricles to the abdomen or heart to treat hydrocephalus; main risks are infection, blockage, and overdrainage.

Cerebral vasoconstriction syndromes

Cerebral vasoconstriction syndromes, best known as reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS), cause severe thunderclap headaches with narrowing of cerebral arteries that reverses within 3 months.

Cerebral vasospasm

Cerebral vasospasm, artery narrowing after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, peaks days 4-10, affects up to 70% of patients, is detected by DSA, TCD, or CTA, and is treated with nimodipine.

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis

Cerebral sinovenous thrombosis (CSVT, cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, CVT) is a rare stroke type caused by clot in the dural venous sinuses or cerebral veins, affecting young adults and newborns, treated with heparin anticoagulation.

Cerebral venous thrombosis in pregnancy

Cerebral venous thrombosis in pregnancy, also called CVST or obstetric cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, is clotting of dural venous sinuses or cerebral veins during pregnancy or the puerperium; risk peaks postpartum, LMWH is first-line therapy, and maternal mortality reaches about 8%.

Cerebral venous thrombosis in the puerperium

Cerebral venous thrombosis in the puerperium is a rare but serious stroke, caused by blood clots in the brain's venous sinuses in the six weeks after childbirth.

Cerebral Ventriculography

Cerebral ventriculography, also called ventriculography, is X-ray imaging of the brain's ventricles after injecting air directly through a burr hole, devised by Walter Dandy in 1918 and made obsolete by CT in the 1970s.

Cerebral visual impairment

Cerebral visual impairment (CVI), also called cortical visual impairment, is brain-caused visual dysfunction in children, a leading cause of pediatric vision loss in the United States.

Cerebrocostomandibular syndrome

Cerebrocostomandibular syndrome (CCMS, rib gap defects with micrognathia) is a rare SNRPB-related congenital disorder with posterior rib gaps, palatal defects, micrognathia, glossoptosis, and neonatal respiratory distress; 25% die in the first month.