Brain and Nervous System Terms

An injection of an anesthetic drug into the space between the wall of the spinal canal and the covering of the spinal cord.

Outside of the cranium (bones that surround the brain).

A rare cancer that forms in germ cells in the testicle or ovary, or in germ cells that have traveled to areas of the body other than the brain (such as the chest, abdomen, or tailbone).

A rare cancer that develops in germ cells that are found in areas of the body other than the ovary or testicle (such as the brain, chest, abdomen, or tailbone).

The main sensory nerve of the head and face, and the motor nerve of the muscles used in chewing.

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

Ganglion describes both a cluster of nerve cell bodies outside the brain and spinal cord and an unrelated fluid filled cyst near a joint.

Three letters standing for a diagnosis that now depends as much on molecular testing as on what the tumor looks like.

A substance used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to help make clear pictures of the brain, spine, heart, soft tissue of joints, and inside bones.

A condition in which there is a build-up of fluid in the eye, which presses on the retina and the optic nerve.

A glial cell is any of the supporting cells that surround, nourish, and protect neurons without transmitting nerve signals themselves.

A general term for tumors of the central nervous system, including astrocytomas, ependymal tumors, glioblastoma multiforme, and primitive neuroectodermal tumors.

What makes it so hard to remove is not its size but its edges, which merge into brain that looks and behaves normally.

The commonest malignant brain tumor in adults, named for how many different faces it presents under a microscope.

A glioma is a tumor arising from glial cells that support the nervous system, ranging from slow growing to highly aggressive.

A type of glioma (cancer of the brain that comes from glial, or supportive, cells).

Timing is everything with this hormone: released in pulses it switches the pituitary on, delivered steadily it switches the same gland off.

A hormone made by the hypothalamus (part of the brain).

A genetic condition that causes unusual facial features and disorders of the skin, bones, nervous system, eyes, and endocrine glands.

A fast-growing type of central nervous system tumor that forms from glial (supportive) tissue of the brain and spinal cord and has cells that look very different from normal cells.