Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Brain Diseases
Your brain is the control center of your body. It controls your thoughts, memory, speech, and movement. It regulates the function of many organs. It's part of your nervous system, which also includes your spinal cord and peripheral nerves. The nervous system sends signals between your brain and the rest of the body. Your nerves take in information from your senses and send it to the brain to be processed. Your brain and nerves also communicate to help you move and to control your body's functions.
When the brain is healthy, it works quickly and automatically. But when you have a brain disease, it may affect how well you can function and do your daily activities. Some common brain diseases include:
- Brain tumors, which can press on nerves and affect brain function.
- Degenerative nerve diseases, which can affect many of your body's activities, such as balance, movement, talking, breathing, and heart function. Types include Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.
- Encephalitis (inflammation in the brain), which can lead to problems such as vision loss, weakness, and paralysis.
- Genetic brain disorders, which are caused by changes in genes (also called variants or mutations). These disorders can affect the development and function of the brain.
- Strokes, which can cause a loss of brain cells and can affect your ability to think clearly.
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), which can affect brain function. They may range from mild to severe. The effects of a TBI may be temporary or permanent.
The symptoms of brain diseases vary widely, depending on the specific problem. In some cases, damage is permanent. In other cases, treatments such as surgery, medicines, or therapies such as physical, occupational, and speech therapies, may cure the disease or improve the symptoms.
It sits within Brain and Nerves.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Brain Diseases
41,283 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- The Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Clinical Trial PlatformAdam Boxer
- Colchicine Use in Intracranial Atherosclerotic DiseaseChinese University of Hong Kong
- Neuromodulation of the Cortex and Spinal CordFather Flanagan's Boys' Home
- MIBG in Aging and Neurologic DisordersMayo Clinic
- Effects of Core Stabilization Exercises on Postural Control in Spastic Diplegic CP Children: a Randomized Control TrialShifa Tameer-e-Millat University
- How Much Virtual Reality Intervention Improve the Balance of Patients With Cerebral PalsyYeditepe University
Research already completed
- Effect of Intensive Segmental Trunk Training on Upper Extremity Function and Seated Postural Stability in Children With Spastic Diplegic Cerebral PalsyUniversity of Lahore
- Normobaric Hyperoxia Combined With Intravenous Thrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke (OPENS-3)Ji Xunming,MD,PhD
- Inherited Diseases, Caregiving, and Social NetworksNational Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Brain Basics: Know Your BrainNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Diagnosis and Tests
- Brain MRI (Head MRI)Radiological Society of North America
- Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) AnalysisNational Library of Medicine
- Functional MRI (fMRI)Radiological Society of North America
- Head CT (Computed Tomography, CAT Scan)Radiological Society of North America
- Neurological ExamNational Library of Medicine
Treatments and Therapies
- About NeurointerventionsSociety of NeuroInterventional Surgery
- Intracranial Hypertension: Medication and SurgeryIntracranial Hypertension Research Foundation
Genetics
- Acute necrotizing encephalopathy type 1: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Biotin-thiamine-responsive basal ganglia disease: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- COL4A1-related brain small-vessel disease: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Familial porencephaly: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Hereditary cerebral amyloid angiopathy: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
- Primary familial brain calcification: MedlinePlus GeneticsNational Library of Medicine
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Brain DiseasesNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Brain Diseases. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Brain Diseases, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.