Brain Injury Terms and Definitions

Non-system-specific Birth Defect
Amniotic band sequence

Beare-Stevenson cutis gyrata syndrome
Beare-Stevenson cutis gyrata syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by skin abnormalities and the premature fusion of certain bones of the skull craniosynostosis), which prevents further growth of the skull and affects the shape of the head and face.

SADDAN
SADDAN (severe achondroplasia with developmental delay and acanthosis nigricans) is a rare inherited disorder of bone growth characterized by skeletal, brain, and skin abnormalities.

NBDPN
National Birth Defects Prevention Network

neural tube defect
A structure in early fetal life that develops into the brain, spinal cord, spinal nerves and spine.

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

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.

Guillain-Barre (ge-YAH buh-RA) syndrome
An inflammatory disorder in which the body's immune system attacks the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord (peripheral nerves) and, more rarely, parts of the brain itself.

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.

Parkinson's disease
A progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the part of the brain that helps control muscle movement.