NYSTAGMUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nystagmus mean? 

• NYSTAGMUS (noun)
  The noun NYSTAGMUS has 1 sense:

1. involuntary movements of the eyeballs; its presence or absence is used to diagnose a variety of neurological and visual disorders

  Familiarity information: NYSTAGMUS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NYSTAGMUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Involuntary movements of the eyeballs; its presence or absence is used to diagnose a variety of neurological and visual disorders

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("nystagmus" is a kind of...):

eye movement (the movement of the eyes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "nystagmus"):

physiological nystagmus (small involuntary tremors of the eyeballs; when it is eliminated by stabilizing the image on the retina, visual perception fades rapidly from fatigue of the retinal receptors)

rotational nystagmus (nystagmus caused by the body rotating rapidly; large slow movements of the eyeballs are in the direction of rotation)

post-rotational nystagmus (nystagmus caused by suddenly stopping the rapid rotation of the body; large slow movements of the eyeballs are in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation)

 Context examples 

Clinical signs include limitation of upward gaze, light-near dissociation of the pupillary response, eyelid retraction (Collier's sign) and convergence-retraction nystagmus.

(Parinaud Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Pendular nystagmus features oscillations that are of equal velocity in both directions and this condition is often associated with visual loss early in life.

(Nystagmus, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The presence or absence of nystagmus is often used in the diagnosis of a variety of neurological and visual disorders.

(Nystagmus, NCI Thesaurus)

Nystagmus - fast, uncontrollable movements of the eyes, sometimes called "dancing eyes".

(Eye Movement Disorders, NIH)

Signs and symptoms include progressive ataxia, dysarthria, and nystagmus.

(Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration, NCI Thesaurus)

Signs and symptoms include retinitis pigmentosa which may lead to blindness, hearing problems and deafness, hypotonia, ataxia, nystagmus, facial deformities, and mental and growth retardation.

(Infantile Refsum Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

Objective signs include weakness, long tract signs, dysmetria, gait ataxia, papilledema, and nystagmus.

(Cerebellar Astrocytoma, NCI Thesaurus)

An X-linked inherited disorder caused by mutations in the PLP1 gene on chromosome X. The signs and symptoms are the result of defective myelination of the central nervous system and include nystagmus, hypotonia, tremor, ataxia, spastic quadriparesis, and diffuse leukoencephalopathy.

(Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

There is no treatment for some kinds of eye movement disorders, such as most kinds of nystagmus.

(Eye Movement Disorders, NIH)

Jerk nystagmus has a slow phase in one direction followed by a corrective fast phase in the opposite direction, and is usually caused by central or peripheral vestibular dysfunction.

(Nystagmus, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)