Neurological Glossary
Neurological terms are often complicated and difficult to understand. The following glossary defines a variety of terms to help you understand neurological terminology:
Rachischisis
Fissure of the spinal cord resulting in exposure of the incompletely folded cord along the back
Radiculopathy
Symptoms and signs associated with spinal nerve root compression
Ramsy-Hunt syndrome
Facial paralysis
Raphe nuclei
Nuclei located within the medial portion of the reticular formation in the brainstem that secrete serotonin
Raymond syndrome
Ipsilateral lateral rectus palsy and contralateral hemiplegia sparing the face due to a ventral pontinelesion affecting the abducens nerve fascicles and corticospinal tract (but sparing the facial nerve)
Recurrent-remittent
Episodic attacks of symptoms with rapid recovery to normal health; implies repeating episodes of a single process (e.g.
Red desaturation
Finding of dimmer perception of the colour red in an eye affected by optic nerve disease such as optic neuritis; sign of subtle asymmetry in optic nerve function since colour desaturation may occur despite normal visual acuity
Red nucleus
Oval nucleus centrally placed in the upper midbrain reticular formation that receives fibres from the deep cerebellar nuclei and cerebral cortex and projects to the cerebellum
Rehabilitation
The process of regaining function through active treatment
Relapsing-remitting
Clinical course of multiple sclerosis characterized by episodic attacks of symptoms with recovery to normal health
REM behaviour disorder
Disorder occurring during REM sleep in which the normal motor atonia is partially or completely absent such that dreams can be acted out with punching
REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep)
Sleep stage in which vivid dreaming occurs; identified by the occurrence of rapid eye movements under closed eyelids
Repetitive nerve stimulation
Nerve conduction study in which a brief series of shocks is applied to a motor nerve before and after brief exercise of a muscle supplied by that nerve; useful for evaluating disorders of neuromuscular transmission such as myasthenia gravis (decremental response see) and Lambert Eaton myasthenic syndrome (incremental response seen).
Respite care
Care given to someone for a short period
Resting tremor
Medium-frequency (3-6 Hz) tremor that occurs maximally with the affected body at rest rather than with holding a sustained posture or making an intentional movement; common in Parkinson disease
Restless legs syndrome
Sleep disorder characterized by tingling
Reticular activating system (RAS)
The activating mechanisms that lie in or near the central gray matter of the diencephalon
Reticular formation
Heterogeneous collection of neurons scattered throughout the brainstem tegmentum that either modulate forebrain and spinal cord activity or coordinate the firing patterns of lower motor neurons engaged in reflexive or stereotypical somatic motor and visceral motor activities
Reticulospinal tract
Descending pathway from the reticular formation of the brainstem to spinal inter- and motor neurons that control anti-gravity posture and locomotion
Retina
Light-sensitive neuronal layer lining the back of the eye that sends impulses through the optic nerve that are translated into a visual image; part of the central nervous system
Retropulsion
A tendency to walk backward involuntarily that can occur in Parkinson disease
RGO
Lower body and leg splints to help walking
Rhombencephalon
Hindbrain; includes the pons
Righting reflex
Ability to make postural adjustments in response to perturbations
Rigidity
Extreme stiffness of muscles continuous resistance to passive motion
Ring-enhancement
CT or MRI contrast enhancement surrounding a lesion that has blood-brain barrier breakdown
Risk factors
The possible underlying causes (for the stroke) such as smoking
Rollators
Walking Aids
Romberg test
Inability to maintain upright posture when feet together and eyes closed; indicates impaired proprioception
Rooting reflex
Normal neonatal reflex consisting of turning the head towards a stimulus presented to the side of the mouth
Rostral
Toward the head or nose
Rostrocaudal
meaning from the nose to the tail; used to describe the sequence of symptoms referable to progressively lower parts of the brainstem characteristic of transtentorial herniation
Rubral tremor
Low-frequency (<4.5 Hz) tremor often of irregular
Ruffini corpuscles
Thermoreceptors in the skin
Rx
Treatment