Brain Injury Terms and Definitions

Muenke syndrome
The primary feature of this disease is prematurely fused skull bones along the coronal suture, the growth line which goes over the head from ear to ear. This can result in an abnormally shaped head, wide-set eyes, and flattened cheekbones.

Alexander disease
Alexander disease is considered one of the leukodystrophies, a group of disorders where the primary abnormality is the inability to maintain the fatty covering (myelin) that insulates nerve fibers in the brain. Alexander disease is a rare disorder of the nervous system that usually begins during infancy or early childhood.

brain plasticity
Theories based on the idea that the brain may have the ability to use surviving brain cells in a different way to make up for those brain cells that are damaged.

Gastrointestinal Birth Defect
Esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula, intestinal atresia, biliary atresia

aneurysm
The localized enlargement of a blood vessel, usually an artery, that forms a bulge or sac.

Cardiovascular Birth Defect
Conotruncal heart defects, septal heart defects, obstructive heart defects, atrioventricular septal defects, single ventricle, anomalous pulmonary venous return, heterotaxy, Ebstein malformation.

brain
The part of the central nervous system inside the skull. Its functions include muscle control and coordination, sensory reception and integration, speech production, memory storage and the elaboration of thought and emotion.

acetylcholine (ACH)
A chemical in the body that carries messages between the nerves and muscles; a neurotransmitter.

Crouzonodermoskeletal syndrome
Crouzonodermoskeletal syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by the remature joining of certain bones of the skull (craniosynostosis) and a skin disorder called acanthosis nigricans.

NCEH
National Center for Environmental Health