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What Causes Involutional Changes In The Brain?

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Posted on Wed, 7 Jan 2015
Question: involutional changes what does that mean,in plain english please .
doctor
Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (26 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
Shrinking...

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

Involutional changes refer to the shrinking of an organ, probably because of the ageing process. I suppose this has to do with a brain computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Our brains tend to shrink as we age due to a normal (mostly) or abnormal (accelerated, like in Alzheimer's disease) process of degeneration. A radiologist usually comments on the brain size and anatomy with the patient's age in regard.

I hope you find my answer easy to understand.
If you have more questions, please ask and I'll be glad to give more answers.

Kind Regards!
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (47 minutes later)
what meds can take for it,and is their a cure.
doctor
Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (12 minutes later)
Brief Answer:
It depends

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

I still suppose (because you haven't confirmed or denied) that we're talking about brain shrinking probably due to ageing.

The ageing process cannot be reversed with current medical knowledge. What can be done is to watch after the health of your blood vessels. If your blood vessels are "in bad shape" then the organ functions deteriorate sooner than normal. To be more specific, you have to maintain a healthy body weight, exercise regularly (mild exercise like daily fast walking for 30 minutes or more) unless contraindicated for medical reasons, keep blood sugar and cholesterol levels within normal range and control your blood pressure to below 140/90 mmHg. You can't do anything more than that.

If symptoms of dementia are becoming apparent like forgetfulness, cognitive dysfunction etc., you should contact a neurologist who will test your cognitive abilities in a clinical encounter and help you decide the kind of treatment that's more appropriate for you.

There are some drugs that help with dementia but none of them really reverses things to normal. So there is no real cure, we just try to slow down the effects.

I tried to present it as simple as possible. If you need me to clarify anything, please respond using your follow-up questions.

Kind Regards!
Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
doctor
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Follow up: Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (22 hours later)
will i be able to get any benifits to help ? and is it an illness or disabily ?
doctor
Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (1 hour later)
Brief Answer:
There are some benefits from treatment

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

sure! Treatment is supposed to confer benefit to the patient. It's not the same for every case. As I've already told you, the neurologist should make an assessment of your condition and present the treatment options to you. There is no real difference between illness and disability. What's important is that people with dementia have a progressive difficulty coping with everyday tasks (so it's definitely a disability). Sometimes this is due to the aging process. Other times it's due to an accelerated form of dementia like Alzheimer's disease (so it's a disease too).
I believe your best next step is to arrange for a visit to the neurologist.

Best wishes for your health!
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Ashwin Bhandari
doctor
Answered by
Dr.
Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis

Internal Medicine Specialist

Practicing since :1999

Answered : 3810 Questions

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What Causes Involutional Changes In The Brain?

Brief Answer: Shrinking... Detailed Answer: Hello, Involutional changes refer to the shrinking of an organ, probably because of the ageing process. I suppose this has to do with a brain computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our brains tend to shrink as we age due to a normal (mostly) or abnormal (accelerated, like in Alzheimer's disease) process of degeneration. A radiologist usually comments on the brain size and anatomy with the patient's age in regard. I hope you find my answer easy to understand. If you have more questions, please ask and I'll be glad to give more answers. Kind Regards!