The brain is the organ responsible for all the brilliant activities that human beings perform, such as thinking, acting, speaking, solving problems, making decisions, regulating emotions and other fascinating mental abilities. Any of these brain functions can be damaged at the least expected moment, generating cognitive and behavioral problems in the patient who suffers from acquired brain damage. This article proposes a theoretical review of various etiological factors of brain damage: (a) the most frequent of them, traumatic brain injury (TBI), a condition that causes a range of cognitive and behavioral deficiencies, in addition to being the main cause of prolonged dysfunction in industrialized countries; (b) brain tumors are also an important etiological factor, since any area of the Central Nervous System (CNS) can be affected and the effects are very varied according to the location of the tumor, its level of severity, its nature and whether or not surgery was performed; (c) thirdly, epilepsy is presented as a neurological disease present in 50 million people around the world and whose consequences on the CNS are related to seizures and anti-seizure drugs; finally, (d) the neurobiology of child abuse is exposed, which can generate alterations in the brain configuration of a minor. In each of these factors, its definition, classification, associated risk factors and, finally, what is its effect on the brain and the nature of the damage will be presented.
brain tumors
Etiología del Daño Cerebral: Un Aporte Neuropsicológico en su Construcción Teórica (Primera Parte). Etiology Of Brain Damage: A Neuropsychological Contribution In Its Theoretical Construction (First Part)
Hemangioblastoma Sólido de Cerebelo. Presentación de un Caso y Revisión de la Literatura.
Hemangioblastoma is an uncommon benign and highly vascular tumor that is usually observed in the brain, spinal cord and retina. It may be solid or cystic and approximately 25 to 40% of them are associated with von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. Clinical manifestations of hemangioblastoma are nonspecific and they depend on the location and growth pattern of the tumor. Despite its great vascularity, they rarely manifest themselves with hemorrhage and when they do, intraparenchymal bleeding, intramedullary hemorrhage or subarachnoid hemorrhage may be observed. The definitive diagnosis of HB is the pathologic exam. The treatment of choice for hemangioblastoma is microneurosurgery in order to make a complete resection. Preoperative endovascular embolization of feeding vessels may be useful in selected cases as the main risk of this surgery is intraoperative bleeding. We present a case of a 25 years old female diagnosed with right cerebellar hemisphere hemangioblastoma and hydrocephalus, therefore treated through various surgical stages: placing of a medium pressure valve, suboccipital craniectomy, supraselective embolization of feeder vessels and finally extirpation of the tumor mass.
