Cranial arteritis
Cranial arteritis: A serious disease characterized by inflammation of the walls of the blood vessels (vasculitis). The vessels affected by inflammation are the arteries (hence the name “arteritis”). The age of affected patients is usually over 50 years of age. Cranial arteritis is also known as temporal arteritis and as giant cell arteritis. It can lead to blindness and/or stroke. The disease is detected by a biopsy of an artery. It is treated with high dose steroids.
Read Also:
- Cranial dystonia
Cranial dystonia: A form of dystonia that affects the muscles of the head, face, and neck. Spasmodic torticollis can be classified as a type of cranial dystonia.
- Cranial bone
Cranial bone: Part of the top portion of the skull which protects the brain. The bones of the cranium include the frontal, parietal, occipital, temporal, sphenoid, and ethmoid bones.
- Cranial nerve II
Cranial nerve II: The second cranial is the optic nerve, the nerve that connects the eye to the brain and carries the impulses formed by the retina — the nerve layer that lines the back of the eye, senses light and creates the impulses — to the brain which interprets them as images. The cranial […]
- Cranial nerve I
Cranial nerve I: The first nerve to emerge from or enter the skull (the cranium). (There are twelve cranial nerves.) The first cranial nerve is the olfactory nerve which permits the sense of smell. See: Olfactory nerve.
- Cranial nerve III
Cranial nerve III: The third cranial nerve is the oculomotor nerve. The cranial nerves emerge from or enter the skull (the cranium), as opposed to the spinal nerves which emerge from the vertebral column. There are twelve cranial nerves. The oculomotor nerve is responsible for the nerve supply to muscles about the eye: The upper […]