This is Our Brain by Jeroen Hendrikse

Author:Jeroen Hendrikse
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Singapore, Singapore

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2017

Jeroen HendrikseThis is Our Brainhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4148-8_22

22. Encephalitis

Jeroen Hendrikse1

(1)Section Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Jeroen Hendrikse

Email: [email protected]

The MRI scan on the next page shows an inflammation of the brain, also known as encephalitis. Inflammation of the brain is a relatively rare phenomenon. It is much less common, for instance, than cerebral infarctions. However, due to an increase in the number of patients with reduced immunity, the number of people suffering encephalitis has increased in recent decades, as encephalitis is much more common in persons with a weakened immune system, such as AIDS patients, whose immune system is under attack from the HIV virus. In addition, there are medical procedures, such as organ transplants, which involve a deliberate reduction of the body’s immune system so as to ensure that the body does not reject the newly transplanted organ. There are other, rarer factors which cause encephalitis, as well. For instance, patients with endocarditis (inflammation of the heart valve) are at risk of this inflammation spreading to the brain through their blood. Furthermore, severe inflammations of the air-filled cavities behind the ear or in the frontal sinuses may sometimes break through the skull, thus causing the brain to get inflamed, too. Inflammation of the brain can be found in several places, the most common locations being the protective membranes covering the brain and the brain tissue itself. Inflammation of the protective membranes, also known as meningitis, can be hard to detect on a CT or MRI scan. The method used to determine whether a patient has meningitis is a lumbar puncture, followed by analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid thus collected. To this end, a little cerebrospinal fluid will be collected from the bottom of the spinal canal. Even though the bottom of the spine is far away from the brain, the cerebrospinal fluid in the spinal canal is directly connected to the cerebrospinal fluid around the brain.

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