|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
The brain, which weighs about 1,350 g but with some variations (for example, 900g for Anatole France, and 2.3 kg for Lord Byron), is connected to the nerves in the limbs through the spinal cord in the vertebral column.
Altogether, they compose the nervous system, which allows an individual to interact with his environment, from which he receives information (perception) and to which he responds (movement).
The tens of billions of nerve cells which make up the brain are interconnected in a complex and ordered fashion. They give us our autonomy and individuality, enabling us to learn, adapt and plan.
This means that any dysfunction or injury in the nervous system immediately affects the individual and his social integration.
|
|
A distinction should be made between brain diseases involving cell loss and those characterized by a simple dysfunction
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
When a young patient has a severe head and spinal cord injury or is suddenly paralyzed by a stroke, the outcome depends on the measures taken immediately in the emergency room (biological exams, X rays, etc…). The role of specialists (neurosurgeons, orthopedists, etc…) is crucial at all the steps of this drama.
|
 |
To improve the quality of care for such difficult patients, a multidisciplinary approach to medicine is necessary, as is the constant development of new diagnostic and
therapeutic tools. This in itself justifies the ICM.
|
|
Neurodegenerative disorders are characterised by premature and selective ageing of nerve cells.
These conditions present a real problem for public health, in that their prevalence increases with age,
while ageing of the population continues. Degeneration of the nervous system can affect the cerebral cortex (as in Alzheimer’s disease),
the deep structures of the brain (as in Parkinson’s disease) or the spinal cord (as in motor neuron disease).
Multiple sclerosis and inflammatory disorders of the nervous system begin in young adults and compromise their future.
Strokes, whether from haemorrhage or – more commonly – infarction, are the main cause of disability
Tumours are sometimes benign, and can be treated by surgery.. Often, however, they are malignant, and are generally beyond treatment.
For epilepsy, which affects young people, there are efficacious drugs available, but they do not work in all cases. Developmental, metabolic and hereditary disorders
of the nervous system (including Huntington’s disease and myopathies) are very distressing, particularly when the person affected is a child.
|
These range from benign anxiety and depression to severe psychosis, and include schizophrenia, bipolar depression, autism, etc…
Any dysfunction or lesion of the nervous system has unavoidable consequences for the patients, as a result of his disability and its effects on social integration.
|
 |
In Europe, traffic accidents cause 60,000 deaths and injure 1,500,000 people each year. The injuries result in hemiplegia, paraplegia and tetraplegia, necessitating massive medical intervention, often throughout life.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
