DISSERTATION

TOPIC : A STUDY OF OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS IN ALTERED SENSORIUM WITH FOCAL NEUROLOGICAL DEFICIT   PROBLEM STATEMENT :   Al tered mental status (AMS) is a symptom complex that continuously poses a great challenge in the ICU management.  The causes may range from easily reversible (such as hypoglycemia) to relatively permanent (such as stroke), and from benign (such as intoxication) to potentially life threatening (such as meningo-encephalitis) etiologies. AMS is defined as a state of drowsiness, unresponsiveness, sudden behavioural change, disorientation or confusion, agitation or hallucination. This is a study based on patients who present in altered sensorium due to a neurological deficit such as hemiparesis, hemiplegia, slurring of speech, stroke secondary to seizures etc and their outcomes. A focal neurologic deficit consists of a set of symptoms or signs in which causation can be localized to an anatomic site in the central nervous system. The site of the pathologic abnormality is typ