Definition
Diaschisis is a sudden loss of function in a portion of the brain connected to, but at a remote distance away from, a damaged area.
Current Knowledge
The site of the area that has been injured by an acute focal disturbance such as stroke or penetrating brain injury, and the site of the diaschisis are connected to each other by neurons. The loss of the damaged structure disrupts the function of the remaining intact systems and causes a physiological imbalance. These changes are most pronounced during the first few days following cerebral infarction or injury. Some function may be restored with a gradual readjustment of the otherwise intact but suppressed areas.
Diaschisis can be classified according to the connecting neuronal fibers involved. When the connecting fibers are intrahemispheric, the phenomenon of ipsilateral thalamic or subcortical-cortical diaschisis may be seen; when they are interhemispheric, there is transcallosal diaschisis, and if they are cerebellar, the...
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References and Reading
Finger, S., Koehler, P. J., & Jagell, C. (2004). The Monakow concept of diaschisis: Origins and perspectives. Archives of Neurology, 61, 283–288.
Infeld, B., Davis, S. M., Lichtenstein, M., Mitchell, P. J., & Hopper, J. L. (1995). Crossed cerebellar diaschisis and brain recovery after stroke. Stroke, 26, 90–95.
Komaba, Y., Mishina, M., Utsumi, K., Katayama, Y., Kobayashi, S., & Mori, O. (2004). Crossed cerebellar diaschisis in patients with cortical infarction: Logistic regression analysis to control for confounding effects. Stroke, 35, 472–476.
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Roth, E.J. (2018). Diaschisis. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2173
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_2173
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