A Brain Drain Essay examples -- Biology Essays Research Papers

A Brain Drain Anthrax, arteriovenous malformation (cerebral), chronic inflammatory, polyneuropathy, dementia due to metabolic causes, encephalitis, epilepsy, febrile seizure (children), generalized tonic-clonic seizure, Guillain-Barre syndrome, hydrocephalus, inhalation anthrax, treatments involving leukemia and neuroblastoma, malignant diseases involving the brain or spinal cord, meningitis, multiple sclerosis, normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), pituitary tumor, polio, Reye's syndrome, subarachnoid brain hemorrhage, syphilis, tertiary, etc. Seems like quite an extensive list, and yet the list goes on to include hundreds of dehabilitating diseases which can affect the central nervous system. One thing that all of these conditions have in common is the potential to be discovered with the evidence from a procedure know as the lumbar puncture (spinal tap or cisternal puncture). Over spring break, I had the wonderful opportunity to intern with a neurologist. During this time, I viewed the lumbar puncture. As painful and invasive as I had imagined it, it was not. I learned that the lumbar puncture is actually a quite simple and absolutely amazing procedure, much less painful than an intravenous or drawing blood. There is an exorbidant amount of information which can be obtained from the cerebrospinal fluid. Lumbar punctures are an outpatient procedure, usually performed by a neurologist, pediatrician, or family doctor and lasting only a few minutes. The goal of the tap is to collect and measure the pressure of the cerebro spinal fluid (CSF) which surrounds, cusions, and protects the brain and spinal cord. The CSF is a dense water-like fluid secreted by the brain and "flows through the skull and spine into the subara... ...e question and answer bulletin board. http://209.67.220.19/mayo/askphys/qa990215.htm 3)Picture of Lumbar Puncture Tray. http://www.neocare.com/_borders/lpk.ht1.jpg 4)Image of Lumbar Puncture http://night.medsch.ucla.edu/problem/wwid95/SPINLTP2.gif 5)Lumbar Puncture Procedures, For med students. http://www.medstudents.com.br/proced/lumbpunc.htm 6)Ask the Mayo Physician, More responses from the bulletin board. http://www.healthanswers.com/database/ami/converted/003515.html 7)Healthanswers medical research library. http://www.healthanswers.com/database/ami/converted/003526.html 8)Health central, More information from healthcentral, with image. http://www.healthcentral.com/mhc/img/img2930.cffm 9) Medical review., An informative site with lumbar puncture information. http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/news/review/archives/medrev_v1n1_0010.html