Medical Definition of Decerebration
1. Spontaneous extension of elbows, wrists and legs which suggests damage to the diencephalon (midbrain). Seen in cases of stroke and some cases of encephalitis. The decerebrate reflex is a clinical finding characterised by rigid contraction of the extensor and other muscles which maintain an animal in the standing position (antigravity muscles), may be seen in association with a severe stroke, intracranial haemorrhage, cerebral haemorrhage, cerebral toxin or transection of the brain below the level of the anterior corpora quadrigemina but above the vestibular nuclei, clinically may be preceded by decortication. (27 Sep 1997)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Decerebration
Literary usage of Decerebration
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. International Medical and Surgical Surveyby American Institute of Medicine by American Institute of Medicine (1922)
"The present paper deals with the effect of decerebration rigor and of phasic ...
In other tests, one gastrocnemius was removed before decerebration and its ..."
2. Neurological Bulletin by Frederick Tilney, Columbia University, Dept. of Neurology (1921)
"... nor does it develop in that part if the posterior roots have been cut prior
to decerebration ; it is abolished in the hind limb by section of the ..."
3. American Journal of Physiology by American Physiological Society (1887- ). (1913)
"In some cases decerebration was preceded by low spinal transection at the level
... After decerebration all the nerves of importance in both hind limbs were ..."
4. An Introduction to the History of Medicine: With Medical Chronology by Fielding Hudson Garrison (1913)
"... who brought out the important fact that the effects of decerebration are the
more profound, the higher the animal, as evidenced by amentia in man. ..."
5. The Harvey Lectures by Harvey Society of New York, New York Academy of Medicine (1921)
"... or some similar anaesthetic, or by decerebration. Under such conditions 1 or
2 milligrams of histamine per kilogram will produce an irremediable shock. ..."
6. The Integrative Action of the Nervous System by Charles Scott Sherrington (1906)
"... by decerebrate cats during the continued administration of the anaesthetic
after decerebration. This vocalization does not necessarily mean an imperfect ..."
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