Organic brain syndrome - Overview
Alternative Names
OBS; Organic mental disorder (OMS); Chronic organic brain syndrome
Definition of Organic brain syndrome:
Organic brain syndrome (OBS) is a general term used to describe decreased mental function due to a medical disease, other than a psychiatric illness. It is often used synonymously (but incorrectly) with dementia.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:
Disorders associated with OBS include:
- Brain injury caused by trauma
- Breathing conditions
- Low oxygen in the body (hypoxia)
- High carbon dioxide levels in the body (hypercapnia)
- Cardiovascular disorders
- Degenerative disorders
- Dementia due to metabolic causes
- Drug and alcohol-related conditions
- Infections
- Any sudden onset (acute) or long-term (chronic) infection
- Blood poisoning (septicemia)
- Brain infection (encephalitis)
- Meningitis (infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord)
- Other medical disorders
- Cancer
- Kidney disease
- Liver disease
- Thyroid disease (high or low)
- Vitamin deficiency (B1, B12, or folate)
Other conditions that may mimic organic brain syndrome include:
- Reviewed last on: 2/6/2010
- David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Luc Jasmin, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosurgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, and Department of Anatomy at UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
References
Knopman DS. Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier;2007:chap 425.
