Treatment FAQ

what is a treatment for white matter disease?

by Prof. Ike Reilly IV Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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White matter disease doesn't have a cure, but there are treatments that can help manage your symptoms. The primary treatment is physical therapy. Physical therapy can help with any balance and walking difficulties you may develop.

What is the cure for white matter disease?

Apr 14, 2022 · Treatment of white matter disease starts after diagnosing the patient, which includes taking X-rays, MRI scans and CT scans. In order to treat the condition, the patient must control the vascular risk factors, especially variable hypertension. Apart from this, the patient is prescribed vitamin B6 supplements or Pyridoxine.

How and why do people get white matter disease?

Apr 14, 2022 · That can lead to white matter changes. To keep your heart healthy, follow a low-fat, low-salt diet, and get about 2 and a half hours of moderate-intensity exercise each week. Manage diabetes if ...

Can white matter disease be cured?

Jan 28, 2020 · For many people with white matter disease due to small strokes, treatment options can include improving their cardiovascular health by eating a healthful diet, avoiding tobacco use, and taking...

How to treat white matter disease?

Jan 25, 2018 · White matter disease doesn’t have a cure, but there are treatments that can help manage your symptoms. The primary treatment is physical therapy. Physical therapy can help with any balance and...

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Treatments: While there is no known cure for white matter disease, treatments can help to manage the symptoms. Controlling the risk factors associated with heart disease can help decrease the progression of the disease. Physical therapy may address the balance and walking problems encountered in older adults with white matter disease including fall

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How do you get rid of white matter disease?

Keep your blood pressure and blood sugar in check. That can lead to white matter changes. To keep your heart healthy, follow a low-fat, low-salt diet, and get about 2 and a half hours of moderate-intensity exercise each week. Manage diabetes if you have it and keep your cholesterol in check.

Can white matter disease be treated?

While there is no known cure for white matter disease, treatments can help to manage the symptoms. Controlling the risk factors associated with heart disease can help decrease the progression of the disease.

Can white matter in the brain be repaired?

White matter injuries are very serious, but, depending on the type and extent of the injury, extensive recovery may occur. As long as the neuron cell bodies remain healthy, axons can regrow and slowly repair themselves.Jan 15, 2022

Can you live a normal life with white matter disease?

It is not possible to stop disease progression, and it is typically fatal within 6 months to 4 years of symptom onset. People with the juvenile form of metachromatic leukodystrophy, which develops between the age of 4 and adolescence, may live for many years after diagnosis.Jan 28, 2020

What doctor treats white matter disease?

A radiologist, particularly a neuroradiologist, has expertise in what the brain should look like on an MRI. When evaluating for white matter disease, the radiologist will be looking for abnormal signal in the brain tissue.Nov 27, 2019

How serious is white matter disease?

The life expectancy after a diagnosis of white matter disease depends on the speed it progresses and the severity of any other conditions it may cause, like stroke and dementia. White matter disease is believed to be a factor in both strokes and dementia.

What does white matter on brain MRI mean?

White matter disease is commonly detected on brain MRI of aging individuals as white matter hyperintensities (WMH), or 'leukoaraiosis.” Over the years it has become increasingly clear that the presence and extent of WMH is a radiographic marker of small cerebral vessel disease and an important predictor of the life- ...

Is white matter disease the same as dementia?

Unlike Alzheimer's disease, which shrinks the hippocampus causing progressive memory loss, white matter disease is a more diffuse mind-robbing condition that targets small blood vessels deep within the brain's white matter.Feb 24, 2014

Is white matter on brain serious?

Originally, white matter disease was considered a normal, age-related change. But over the last decade, medical experts have come to understand that the presence of large areas of disease in the white matter of the brain are associated with cognitive decline and dementia in patients.Oct 30, 2014

Is white matter disease hereditary?

White matter disease in midlife is heritable, related to hypertension, and shares some genetic influence with systolic blood pressure.Oct 6, 2016

Can white matter disease cause personality changes?

The range of clinical features heralding the onset of white matter involvement is impressively broad and may include inattention, executive dysfunction, confusion, memory loss, personality change, depression, somnolence, lassitude, or fatigue.Apr 9, 2005

How to fix white matter?

That can lead to white matter changes. To keep your hearthealthy, follow a low-fat, low-salt diet, and get about 2 and a half hours of moderate-intensity exercise each week.

Why is white matter important?

White matter helps you problem-solve and focus. It also plays an important role in mood, walking, and balance. So when something’s wrong with it, you might notice:

What is the white matter in the brain?

White matter disease is the wearing away of tissue in the largest and deepest part of your brain that has a number of causes , including aging. This tissue contains millions of nerve fibers, or axons, that connect other parts of the brain and spinal cord and signal your nerves to talk to one another. A fatty material called myelin protects the fibers and gives white matter its color.

What type of tissue helps you think fast, walk straight, and keeps you from falling?

This type of brain tissue helps you think fast, walk straight, and keeps you from falling. When it becomes diseased, the myelin breaks down. The signals that help you do these things can’t get through. Your body stops working like it should, much like a kink in a garden hose makes the water that comes out go awry.

Can age related white matter get worse?

Age-related white matter disease is progressive, meaning it can get worse. But you can take steps to stop it from spreading. Scientists think you might even be able to repair the damage, if you catch it early.

Can white matter disease be reversed?

White matter disease happens in older or elderly people. There are ways to prevent or even reverse this condition, but you need to start now.

Can MRI show white matter?

Changes to white matter will show up super-bright white (your doctor may call this " hyperintense") on an MRI scan. You may need more tests to rule out other causes.

What kind of therapy is needed for white matter?

Those who have issues with balance and walking as a result of white matter disease may need physical therapy.

What is white matter disease?

Summary. White matter disease, or leukoaraiosis, involves the degeneration of white matter in the brain. White matter is tissue that includes nerve fibers (axons), which connect nerve cells. A fatty tissue called myelin covers the axons. These axons connect the neurons of the brain and spinal cord and signal nerve cells to communicate ...

How long can you live with white matter disease?

The life expectancy of a person with white matter disease depends on many factors, including the specific type, the rate at which it progresses, and the complications it causes.

Why is white matter disease unexplained?

One 2014 study suggests that unexplained white matter disease may be the result of damage due to small silent strokes.

Why do doctors treat myelin?

Doctors try to treat the underlying cause of the myelin condition in order to slow down or stop disease progression.

What are the conditions that affect myelin?

Conditions affecting myelin can result from either destruction of existing myelin (demyelinating diseases) or from abnormalities in the formation of myelin (dysmyelinating diseases).

What is the role of white matter in the brain?

White matter plays an essential role in communication within the brain and between the brain and spinal cord. As a result, damage to this tissue can lead to issues with: problem-solving. memory and focus. mood. balance. walking. In the beginning stages of progressive white matter disease, the symptoms may be mild.

How to treat white matter disease?

White matter disease doesn’t have a cure, but there are treatments that can help manage your symptoms. The primary treatment is physical therapy. Physical therapy can help with any balance and walking difficulties you may develop. Your overall physical and mental health can be improved when you’re able to walk and get around better with little or no assistance.

How to manage white matter?

Based on current research, managing your vascular health may also be an effective way to manage the symptoms of white matter disease. Not smoking and taking needed blood pressure medications as directed may help slow the progression of the disease and your symptoms.

What is the name of the MRI that shows the white matter of the brain?

An MRI is a scan of your brain using magnetic resonance. To see the white matter of your brain, your doctor may use a specific type of MRI called T2 Flair. This type of MRI helps your doctor see the details of the white matter in your brain, as well as detect any abnormalities within the white matter.

What is white matter?

These nerves are also called white matter. White matter disease causes these areas to decline in their functionality. This disease is also referred to as leukoaraiosis. A person with white matter disease will gradually have increasing difficulty with the ability to think. They’ll also have progressively worsening issues with balance.

Is white matter disease age related?

They’ll also have progressively worsening issues with balance. White matter disease is an age-related, progressive disease. Age-related means that it usually affects older people. Progressive means that it gets worse over time.

Is white matter a factor in stroke?

White matter disease is believed to be a factor in both strokes and dementia. However, more research must be done for further confirmation.

What is white matter sickness?

An individual with white matter sickness will bit by bit have expanding trouble with the capacity to think. They’ll likewise have dynamically demolishing issues with balance. White matter disease in the brain is an age-related, reformist disease.

What are the dangers of white matter disease?

Exploration proposes that the danger of white matter disease increments with age and the presence of cardiovascular infection. Clinical, way of life, and other danger factors that assume a part in white matter sickness include: 1 Constant hypertension 2 Diabetes 3 Hereditary qualities 4 Elevated cholesterol 5 History of stroke 6 Irritation of the blood veins 7 Parkinson’s disease 8 Smoking

How to analyze white matter?

Your primary care physician can make an analysis of white matter disease by examining your manifestations and utilizing imaging tests. Numerous individuals with white matter disease go to their primary care physician grumbling of equilibrium issues. In the wake of posing you some particular inquiries about your side effects, your primary care physician will probably arrange an X-ray.

What is age related white matter infection?

Age-related implies that it normally influences more established individuals. Reformist implies that it deteriorates over the long haul. The future after a conclusion of white matter infection relies upon the speed it advances and the seriousness of some other conditions it might cause, similar to stroke and dementia.

When do white matter diseases start?

A few types of white matter disease, for example, dysmyelinating diseases, can start during youth.

Is white matter sickness continuous?

The investigation into white matter sickness is continuous. In any case, it looks encouraging that white matter disease might be brought about by smaller than usual, quiet strokes. If so, scientists may one day have the option to forestall and treat white matter disease. Realizing the reason may likewise empower specialists to in the long run have the option to treat and perhaps even forestall vascular dementia.

Is white matter dangerous for stroke?

Exploration has proposed a connection between white matter infection of an obscure reason and the danger of stroke and dementia. As per a survey of six huge forthcoming examinations, individuals with white matter harm have a higher danger of stir up than those without the condition.

What is Vanishing White Matter Disease (VWM)?

Vanishing White Matter Disease (VWM) is one of more than 50 conditions that affect the white matter, or myelin, of the brain known collectively as Leukodystrophies.

How does VWM affect the individual?

VWM is chronic and progressive, and is unusual in that periods of rapid and severe deterioration can be caused by minor head trauma, fevers and even anesthesia.

How do you get VWM Disease?

VWM is a recessive genetic disease, meaning both parents carry a mutation on the same gene that has been inherited by their child. Each child of parents who carry VWM has a 25% chance of having VWM, a 50% chance of being a carrier, and a 25% of being unaffected.

Could other children in the family also have VWM?

If both parents are carriers of VWM, each child has a 1 in 4 chance of being affected. To determine if other children in the family are affected by or carriers of VWM, it is best to consult with your genetic counselor or your child’s physician.

What are the different forms of VWM?

The Antenatal form of VWM typically presents within the third trimester of pregnancy. Often, decreased fetal movement can be detected. Symptoms continue to present with unrelenting progression that has proven to lead to death with the first year of life.

What research is being done to find treatments and a cure for VWM?

Hunter’s Hope is committed to funding research for better treatments and a cure for Leukodystrophies. To learn more about the groundbreaking research currently underway, visit the Research section of our website.

Additional Resources for Families

Leukodystrophy Care Network Hunter’s Hope Foundation – Family Care Hunter James Kelly Research Institute

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