Case Study Analysis
Healthcare professionals are expected to have an in-depth understanding of the different pathophysiologic processes that are behind various symptoms. The understanding of these processes assists the care professional in accurately diagnosing a patient and developing an appropriate treatment and management plan for the diagnosed condition.
The neurological and musculoskeletal systems are closely related and may impact each other, resulting in alterations of the systems and different symptoms. This essay presents an analysis of a case study scenario by exploring the neurological and musculoskeletal pathophysiologic processes that would account for the patient presenting the current symptoms, the racial/ethnic variables that may impact physiological functioning, and how the processes interact to affect the patient.
The case study involves a 74-year-old male who develops a sudden onset of difficulty speaking, drooling from the left side of the mouth, and weakness in his left arm. These symptoms progress over the next 10 minutes, leading to an emergency department visit, where a neuro exam is conducted on the patient, alongside oxygen saturation, pulse, and blood pressure. The patient also has a history of hypertension and smoking.
The patient keeps denying he has a problem. Based on the tests and the presenting symptoms, the patient has mild to moderate dysarthria, which is related to a stroke attack. According to Jayaraman and M Das (2023), dysarthria is a group of neurogenic speech disorders mainly characterized by an abnormality in the strength, speed, steadiness, range, tone, and accuracy of movements required for speech production. However, the neuro exam conducted for the patient at the ER rules out primary language disorders as the major condition since receptive and expressive language are intact.
Both the neurologic and musculoskeletal systems are involved in the development of dysarthria and stroke. The patient’s neurologic system may have responded to the stroke, leading to difficulty in speech, resulting from an interruption of blood flow to the brain, which damages the neuropathways that are necessary for coordinating and controlling the muscles necessary for speech production. Inadequate blood flow in brain cells results in inadequate oxygen and nutrients, leading to cell death or damage (Kuriakose & Xiao, 2020). The pathophysiologic process is also responsible for the other symptoms (Left arm not resisting gravity, left leg with mild drift, and Mild neglect to the left side of the body) that the patient is presenting with.
The musculoskeletal system is also affected by the neurological pathophysiologic processes mentioned above, contributing to the current symptoms. According to Orellana-Urzúa et al. (2020), neurological damage in stroke affects the motor control centers in the brain, compromising the normal functioning of the musculoskeletal system. Thus, the affected side experiences muscle weakness, flaccidity, or spasticity. For example, in this case scenario, the patient presented with left leg mild drift, mild neglect on the left side of the body, and a mild left facial droop.
Racial/ethnic variables may significantly impact the physiologic functioning of individuals. These variables include cultural practices and lifestyle, environmental exposure, and genetic susceptibility to disease. The cultural practices, such as physical activity and lifestyle, adopted by an ethnic group may contribute to diseases. Some ethnic/racial groups may also be exposed to environmental hazards that may negatively affect their physiological functioning.
In addition, Raffington et al. (2023) note that genetic susceptibility following racial/ethnic-related genetic variations may increase the susceptibility to disease. These racial/ethnic variables may interact with the patient’s physiological functioning and affect the patient. For example, an individual with a high susceptibility to stroke due to genetic predisposition would experience the neurological and musculoskeletal pathophysiologic processes, thus presenting with stroke symptoms.
The patient’s symptoms in the case study scenario show that the patient has mild dysarthria and stroke. The neurologic and musculoskeletal pathophysiologic processes resulting from the current symptoms are as discussed above. Racial/ethnic variables such as environmental exposure, gene
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