pseudobulbar palsy

pseudobulbar palsy

Pseudobulbar paralysis, spastic bulbar paralysis A disease of middle age, characterized by bilateral spasticity of the facial and deglutitive muscles, resulting in dysarthria, dysphonia, dysphagia, drooling, facial weakness, hyperreflexia of extremities, and shuffling–parkinsonian gait; PP is remarkable for the variable psychiatric component, in which the Pts may have a flat affect–simulating apathy or severe depression, become enmeshed in trivialities, or have inappropriate responses to environmental cues, aka 'laughing sickness' for the characteristic pathologic–ie, inappropriate laughing–or crying Etiology Multifocal infarcts, often due to ASHD, but also to HTN, infections, trauma, degeneration Treatment Antibiotics Prognosis Guarded. Cf Bulbar palsy.