Krembil Neuroscience Centre (KNC)

Neurodegenerative Disorders - A to Z Glossary

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This is not an exhaustive list, but includes some of the terminology commonly used in the assessment and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders:

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease. Several changes occur in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. The brain cells shrink or disappear, and are replaced by dense, irregularly-shaped spots, or plaques. Another indicator of the disease is thread-like tangles within existing brain cells. These tangles eventually choke healthy brain cells. This shrinkage will continue over time, affecting how the brain functions.

Bradykinesia

slowness of movement.

Cognitive disorders
Cognitive disorders include memory impairment, concentration difficulties

Dystonia

(A syndrome characterized by sustained muscle contractions, usually producing twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures or positions.)

Dyskinesia

A medical condition in which a person makes involuntary movements

Essential Tremor

The most common movement disorder in its group characterized by tremor, which may occur in the hands, head, legs, trunk, or voice.

Frontotemporal Dementia

Frontotemporal Dementia is a progressive dementia that affects specific areas of the brain - the frontal and temporal lobes - unlike Alzheimer's disease, which generally affects most areas of the brain.

Huntington's Disease

A rare abnormal hereditary condition characterized by chronic progressive chorea and mental deterioration that results in dementia. An individual afflicted with the condition usually shows the first signs in the fourth decade of life.

Lewy Body Dementia

Lewy body Dementia is a form of progressive dementia identified by abnormal structures in brain cells called "Lewy bodies".

Myoclonus

Rapid, brief, irregular movement

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson's Disease is a slowly progressive neurodegenerative illness characterized by: tremor, stiffness (rigidity), slowness of movement (bradykinesia) and difficulty with balance (postural instability). The symptoms appear when there is not enough dopamine in the brain. Dopamine is a naturally occurring chemical (neurotransmitter) that allows nerve cells to transmit messages between each other and then to muscles to allow normal movement to take place.

Tics

Involuntary muscle contractions

Vascular Dementia

Vascular Dementia (VaD) is dementia resulting from a single or multiple strokes.

Wilson disease

Inherited disorder that causes neurological and psychiatric symptoms and liver disease

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