brain stem
Meaning of brain stem: The brain stem connects the brain to the spinal cord and controls fundamental automatic functions including breathing, heart rate, and consciousness.
Definition of brain stem
The brain stem is the part of the brain that connects the main mass of the brain to the spinal cord, forming a narrow stalk like structure at the base of the skull. It is made up of three connected sections, generally described as the midbrain, pons, and medulla, each contributing distinct functions.
The brain stem controls many of the body's most fundamental automatic functions, including breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, and swallowing, and it also plays a central role in regulating consciousness and the sleep wake cycle. Nearly all nerve signals traveling between the brain and the rest of the body pass through it.
Because the brain stem is so small relative to the vital functions concentrated within it, even a limited injury in this region can have effects disproportionate to its size, sometimes affecting basic life sustaining functions in a way that damage to a similarly sized area elsewhere in the brain would not.
Used in a sentence
Imaging was obtained to evaluate the brain stem after the patient's injury.
Good to know
Because the brain stem concentrates control of basic life sustaining functions within a very small area, even a relatively limited injury there can have effects disproportionate to its size compared with similarly sized damage elsewhere in the brain.