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Opistótonos - Overview

Definición:

Es una afección en la cual el cuerpo se sostiene en una postura anormal. La persona por lo general está rígida y arquea la espalda, con la cabeza tirada hacia atrás. Si una persona con opistótonos se recuesta boca arriba, sólo la parte posterior de la cabeza y los talones tocan la superficie de apoyo.

Ver también: postura anormal

Consideraciones:

El opistótonos es mucho más común en bebés y en niños que en los adultos. Además, es más exagerado en bebés y niños debido a que sus sistemas nerviosos son menos maduros.

Causas:

El opistótonos puede ocurrir en los bebés con meningitis. También puede ocurrir como un signo de reducción de la función cerebral o lesión al sistema nervioso.

Otras causas pueden ser:

Los medicamentos, como las fenotiazinas y otros antipsicóticos, pueden causar un efecto secundario conocido como reacción distónica aguda y el opistótonos puede ser parte de esta reacción.

En raras ocasiones, los bebés nacidos de mujeres que beben grandes cantidades de alcohol durante el embarazo pueden tener opistótonos debido a la abstinencia alcohólica.

  • Reviewed last on: 4/1/2011
  • Jacob L. Heller, MD, MHA, Emergency Medicine, Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

Referencias

Chiriboga CA. HIV, fetal alcohol and drug effects, and the battered child. In: Rowland LP, Merritt HH, eds. Merritt's Neurology. 12th ed. Baltimore, Md: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2009.

Patterson MC, Johnson WG. Lysosomal and other storage diseases. In: Rowland LP, Merritt HH, eds. Merritt's Neurology. 12th ed. Baltimore, Md: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2009.

Layzer RB, Rowland LP. Muscle cramps and stiffness. Merritt's Neurology. 12th ed. Baltimore, Md: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2009:chap 145.

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