ASTERIXIS

Updated 05-May-2020.

Mondo shtuff from around the internet, all about ASTERIXIS!

Medical Definition of ASTERIXIS: a motor disorder characterized by jerking movements (as of the outstretched hands) and associated with various encephalopathies due especially to faulty metabolism… See the full definition

My botty best at summarizing from Wikipedia: asterixis is a tremor of the hand when the wrist is extended . the term derives from the Greek a, “not” and strixis, “fixed position” the term with a metabolic encephalopathy, the patient is unable to hold their hands back resulting in a “flapping” motion consistent with asterixis . it can be seen in chronic kidney failure, severe con unilateral asterixis may occur with structural brain disease . it can be a sign of hepatic encephalopathy, damage to brain cells . seen most often in drowsy or stupor it is also seen in some patients with kidney failure and azotemia . it can also be a feature of Wilson’s disease . some drugs are known to cause asterixis . first described asterixis in 1949 in patients with severe liver failure and encephalopathy . a jesuit classics scholar suggested “anisosterixis” but Foley shortened this to asterxis Adams introduced the term in 1953 by way of a medical abstract and later solidified its medical use as he was an author and editor of the widely influential Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine .