Pseudoapoplexy
Historical document, translated for reference. It reflects medical knowledge of the 1920s–30s and is not medical advice.
Summary
Pseudoapoplexy is a rarely used term for cases that resemble cerebral apoplexy but lack the typical anatomical changes like hemorrhages, softening, or thrombosis. It is usually caused by vasomotor circulatory disorders and is often transient, occurring in conditions like hypertension, uremia, arteriosclerosis, epilepsy, and hysteria.
Encyclopedia entry (1928–1936)
PSEUDOAPoplexy, a rarely used term for cases when the clinical picture resembles apoplexy of the brain, but at the same time, the usual anatomical changes characteristic of apoplexy, such as hemorrhages, softening, thrombosis of vessels, etc., are not present in its foundation. The picture of P. is usually caused purely by vasomotor disorders of circulation and is more or less rapidly transient. P. is often observed in hypertension, in true and false uremia, in arteriosclerosis, epilepsy, hysteria. It must be kept in mind that the question of whether it is apoplexy can only be resolved by microscopic examination of the brain. From a principled standpoint, it should be considered that all cases of P. have organic changes in the brain substance as their foundation, but these changes are minimal and reversible, i.e., they are not accompanied by deep processes of degeneration or decomposition of protoplasm.
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Cite this page
“Pseudoapoplexy.” Soviet Medical Encyclopedia. English translation of Bolshaya Meditsinskaya Entsiklopediya, 1st ed. (Moscow, 1928–1936), ed. N. A. Semashko. https://sovietmedicalencyclopedia.pages.dev/article/pseudoapoplexy/