All About Traumatic Brain Injury

Traumatic brain injury(TBI) is an injury to the brain caused by a blow to the head, a violent shake of the head, or a penetration of brain tissue. Depending on the cause of the brain injury, brain damage can be mild (concussion), moderate, or severe. Initial symptoms of a traumatic brain injury include headache, dizziness, loss of consciousness, blurred vision, confusion, memory loss, seizures, paralysis, and coma. In the more serious cases of traumatic brain injury, complications can be fatal. While the severity of a brain injury varies, the long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury can be life-altering and devastating.

What is Traumatic Brain Injury ?

Traumatic brain injury is sudden, non-congenital (you're not born with it) physical damage to the brain from an external force that temporarily or permanently disrupts normal brain function. Disrupted brain function affects consciousness, speech and language, memory, mobility, and other activities. Any damage to the brain, whether severe or not, can impair physical and psychological activity.

Types of Traumatic Brain Injury

Damage confined to a small area of the brain is called "focal" damage. Focal brain damage occurs in a particular part in the brain where the head has been hit by an object or where an object has penetrated the brain. Damage to several areas of the brain is called "diffuse" damage. Diffuse brain damage occurs when the brain violently collides with the inside of the rough, boney skull and numerous nerve fibers are sheared or destroyed.

Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms

Depending on the severity of the injury, traumatic brain injury symptoms may vary. Mild traumatic brain injury (concussion) victims may experience a brief loss of consciousness, temporary memory loss, headache, slurred speech, or dilated pupils. Some mild traumatic brain injury victims do not lose consciousness at all. Moderate to severe brain injury victims may lose consciousness for an extended period of time (more than 30 minutes) and may have long-term memory loss, seizures or convulsions, nausea or vomiting, limb paralysis, vision loss, hearing loss, or bowel control loss.

Causes of Traumatic Brain Injury

Common causes of traumatic brain injury include falls, blows to the head, motor-vehicle accidents, and violence. Half of all traumatic brain injuries are the result of traffic or transportation accidents involving pedestrians, vehicles, bicycles, or motorcycles. These accidents are leading causes of traumatic brain injury in people under 75 years old. Falls are leading causes of traumatic brain injury in people over 75. About 20 percent of traumatic brain injuries are the result of violence such as gun and firearm assaults or child abuse. About three percent of all traumatic brain injury cases are related to sports accidents.

Traumatic Brain Injury Complications and Disabilities

Depending on the cause of traumatic brain injury and the extent of brain damage, complications vary. Complications include problems with thinking, reasoning, and memory, problems with vision, hearing, and sense of taste or smell, personality changes, insomnia, and headache. More severe traumatic brain injury complications include bleeding in the head (hematoma), epilepsy, amnesia, paralysis, coma, and death. Some studies have linked Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease with traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury Diagnosis

To diagnose traumatic brain injury, hospital trauma staff and doctors check a person's vital signs (blood pressure, body temperature, pulse and breathing rate) and perform a complete neurological evaluation. Neurological evaluation involves both physical examination of the head and brain and simple verbal tests. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scans, or x-rays identify any bleeding in the brain or skull (hematoma), skull fracture, or brain swelling.

Verbal tests can help evaluate a person's level of consciousness. Doctors may ask the patient his or her name, the current President's name, or the date. Doctors also use the Glasgow Coma Scale or the Rancho Los Amigos Coma Scale to assess a person's level of consciousness and ability to speak, to move, or to open the eyes.

Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment

To stabilize a victim's condition, initial traumatic brain injury treatment may involve maintaining brain blood flow, unblocking airways, or resuscitation. Open wounds and bleeding are treated. To prevent wound infection, a person may be given antibiotics. MRI, CT scans, or x-rays help doctors assess any non-visible brain bleeding or swelling. For decompression of brain swelling, drainage of fluid or blood, or removal of skull fragments or objects, surgery is often necessary. To prevent seizures, a person may be given anti-convulsion medication.

Traumatic brain injury rehabilitation is an important part of treatment, as it may restore at least some impaired brain functions such as speech, memory, or mobility and may also minimize long-term traumatic brain injury disabilities. Rehabilitation not only assists traumatic brain injury recovery, but can help a victim's family cope with the tragedy.

Traumatic brain injury has many other causes, complications, and treatments. Please read other articles on this site for more information on diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of traumatic brain injury.