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KMID : 0978920110120040133
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Korean Journal of Clinical Geriatrics
2011 Volume.12 No. 4 p.133 ~ p.140
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Clinical Approach to Falls and Drop Attacks
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Lee Dong-Kuck
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Abstract
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Everyone occasionally loses balance and, infrequently, falls. When falls occur repeatedly or unproved, the patient may have a serious neurological problem. A multitude of disease states and neurological impairments may cause falls and drop attacks. Associated loss of consciousness implies syncope or seizures. Midline tumors in the third ventricle or posterior fossa can cause abrupt drops. Transient ischemic attacks in the posterior circulation or the anterior cerebral artery distribution can manifest in the same monosymptomatic manner. Narcoleptics experience cataplexy and patients with Meniere’s disease occasionally fall as a result of otolith dysfunction. Patients with lower extremity weakness, spasticity, rigidity, sensory loss, or ataxia frequently fall. Middle aged women may fall with no discernible cause. Finally, the elderly, with their inevitable inferiorities, fall frequently and with potentially dangerous results. The medical history is essential in evaluating patients with falls and drop attacks. The situational and environmental circumstances of the event must be checked. To help establish a diagnosis from among the wide range of possible causes, a detailed interview of the patient or a witness to the fall is essential.
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KEYWORD
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Falls, Drop attacks
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FullTexts / Linksout information
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Listed journal information
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