AtoZ Diseases

What is this condition?

A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye, which is normally transparent. This clouding makes vision fuzzy. A common cause of vision loss, cataracts usually affect both eyes – except for traumatic cataracts, which usually occur in just one eye.

A disorder of aging, cataracts are most common in people over age 70. The prognosis is generally good; surgery improves vision in 95% of people with the disorder.

What causes cataracts?

Cataracts have various causes:

• Senile cataracts develop in the elderly, probably from chemical changes in the lens of the eye .

• Congenital cataracts occur in newborns as genetic defects or may result from German measles contracted by the mother during the first trimester of pregnancy .

• Traumatic cataracts develop after a foreign body injures the lens with enough force to allow eye fluids to enter the lens capsule.

• Complicated cataracts result from other eye disorders (such as inflammation of the uveal tract in the eye, glaucoma, or a detached retina) or from a systemic disease such as diabetes, underactive parathyroid glands, or a skin inflammation called atopic dermatitis.

These cataracts can also result from exposure to ionizing radiation or infrared rays.

• Toxic cataracts result from toxicity from certain drugs (such as Or­asone, ergot alkaloids, and phenothiazines) or certain chemicals (such as dinitrophenol and naphthalene).

What are its symptoms?

Typically, a cataract causes painless, gradual blurring of vision and vision loss. As it progresses, the normally black pupil turns milky white. Other symptoms include blinding glare from headlights when driving at night, poor reading vision, and an unpleasant glare and poor vision in bright sunlight. If the central part of the lens is cloudy, vision is better in dim light than in bright light.

How is it diagnosed?

Shining a penlight into the eye reveals the white area of an advanced cataract behind the pupil. To confirm the diagnosis, the doctor performs ophthalmoscopic and slit-lamp exams.

cataract surgery

• To restore sight, the cataract must be removedby means of surgery. Usually, this is done in one of the following same-day surgical procedures:
• Extracapsular cataract extraction removes the front lens capsule, leaving the rear lens capsule intact. Then an intraocular lens is implanted where the person’s own lens used to be. This procedure can be done in people of all ages.
• Phacoemulsification fragments the cloudy lens with ultrasonic vibrations; lens debris is removed by suction.
• Discission and aspiration can still be used for children with soft cataracts but the procedure is obsolete.
• A person with an intraocular lens implant has clear distance vision once the eye patch is removed but needs corrective reading glasses or contact lenses for reading. Glasses or lenses are fitted 4 to 8 weeks after surgery.

After surgery, the person must care for the eye properly.

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Cerebral” means braincentered, and “palsy,” paralysis. This is a condition present in children after birth, and affects brain centers having to do with muscular control. There is a considerable range in severity and nature of symptoms. Some afflicted persons walk with scissoring, floundering movements, awk­ward armflinging and head tossing and speak with difficult guttural sounds if at all. Some who are mildly afflicted do not appear to be conspicuously strange.

The cause or causes of cerebral palsy are not too clearly established. Some cases are due to brain injury during diffi. cult childbirth, but many babies born with difficulty do not have cerebral palsy. Some cases are thought to be due to infections suffered by the mother or to toxic substances in her blood that reach and damage the brain of the fetus during its early developmental stages. Rh· factor incompatibilities are sometimes implicated.

The afflicted person may show chiefly one or a combination of symptoms such as chorea (involuntary jerking move· ments of different muscle groups), athetosis (a slow, writhing type of constant movement, chiefly in the fingers), poor sense of balance, tremor, and spastic muscles. Frequently, though by no means always. there is mild to severe impair:ment of intelligence; sometimes a normal may be hidden behind difficulties of communication.

There are no preventive measures of celebral palsy, other than careful prenantal and obstetrical care which maycorrect recognized abnormalities. Physical.and speech therapy may overcome handcaps to some degree, and braces and other supportive measures may be helpful in individual cases.

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What is this condition?

Chronic glomerulonephritis is a slowly progressive disease, marked by inflammation of the kidneys. The inflammation leads to hardening and scarring of tissue and eventual kidney failure.

People with this condition usually don’t develop symptoms until the disease is advanced. By this time, the person with chronic glomerulonephritis usually cannot be cured and must rely on dialysis or a kidney transplant.

What causes it?

Common causes of chronic glomerulonephritis include a long list of preexisting kidney disorders, and it may be linked to some other diseases such as strep, lupus, and Goodpasture’s syndrome.

What are its symptoms?

Since it develops slowly and silently, people with chronic glomerulonephritis may not have symptoms for many years. At any time, however, it may suddenly worsen, producing high blood pressure and protein and blood in the urine, possibly followed by symptoms of uremic poisoning, such as nausea, vomiting, itchy skin, difficult breathing, and fatigue. Mild to severe swelling and anemia may accompany these symptoms. When the disease involves the heart or leads to kidney failure, the person will require dialysis or a kidney transplant.

How is it diagnosed?

Because the doctor usually can’t detect glomerulonephritis with a physical exam or questions, he or she will order urinalysis, which may show blood, protein, and debris from the damaged kidneys. The doctor may use blood tests and X-ray or ultrasound to learn more, and then a kidney biopsy to identify the exact cause and gather data to plan the persons therapy.

How is it treated?

The doctor first works to reduce the person’s symptoms and to control high blood pressure with drugs and a low-potassium diet.

The doctor may restrict and guide the person’s fluid consumption and prescribe diuretics to prevent congestive heart failure. Treatment may also include antibiotics (for urinary tract infections) and, eventually, dialysis or transplantation.

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