Brain and Nervous System Terms

A type of psychotherapy that helps patients change their behavior by changing the way they think and feel about certain things.

An operation on the vocal cords or on the spinal cord.

A non-cancerous growth near the pituitary gland that causes serious trouble through its position rather than by spreading.

CSF is the fluid that bathes the brain and spinal cord, providing cushioning and a pathway for clearing waste from the central nervous system.

Its pain effect runs through descending spinal pathways, which is why it eases nerve pain in people who are not depressed.

Molecules come in left and right handed forms, and here only the working half is supplied, which is why the milligram numbers look smaller.

A type of central nervous system tumor that forms from glial (supportive) tissue of the brain and spinal cord.

A long established seizure medicine whose blood level climbs unpredictably with dose, which is why it is measured rather than assumed.

It preserves a messenger whose source the disease is steadily destroying, which is why the benefit is real but modest and temporary.

One drug licensed across mood and pain, duloxetine works partly through spinal cord pathways that damp pain signals before they reach the brain.

A rare, fast-growing tumor of the nervous system or soft tissue that occurs in children and young adults.

One of the few tests that watches the brain working moment by moment instead of photographing its structure.

A change in the heat and electricity passed through the skin by nerves and sweat.

The recording is often obtained under specific conditions, such as during sleep or with flashing lights, to help capture patterns not seen at rest.

Confusion, drowsiness or a change in personality can all be the visible face of a chemical problem somewhere else in the body.

A thin membrane that lines the fluid-filled spaces in the brain and spinal cord.

A cell that forms the lining of the fluid-filled spaces in the brain and spinal cord.

A type of brain tumor that begins in cells lining the spinal cord central canal (fluid-filled space down the center) or the ventricles (fluid-filled spaces of the brain).

A tumor growing from the lining of the brain's fluid spaces, able to shed cells into that fluid and settle further down.

A catheter left sitting in the space outside the cord is what lets the block be topped up, adjusted or deepened.