Chapter 11 Flashcards
traumatic brain injury (TBI)
happens when a sudden, external, physical assault damages the brain
- TBI is a broad term that describes a vast array of injuries that happen to the brain. The damage can be: focal, diffuse
focal damage
confined to one area of the brain
- contusions (visible)
- concussion (non-visible)
- chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) brain degeneration suffered by professional football players
- hematomas (subdural and epidural)
diffuse damage
happens in more than one area of the brain
two ways TBIs may happen
closed brain injury, penetrating brain injury
closed brain injury
- happen when there is a non-penetrating injury to the brain with no break in the skull
- a rapid forward or backward movement and shaking of the brain inside the bony skull (e.g., car accident or violently shaking a baby)
- diffuse axonal injuries (DAI)
penetrating brain injury
- open head injuries
- happen when there is a break in the skull, such as when a bullet pieces the brain
diffuse axonal injury (DAI)
a type of TBI that occurs due to shearing of a brain’s long connecting nerve fibers (axons) that happens when the brain is injured as it shifts and rotates inside the boney skull
classifications of TBI based on the Glasgow coma scale (GCS)
mild (13-15), moderate (9-12), severe (below 8)
symptoms of diffuse axonal injury (DAI)
- can present in a spectrum of neurological dysfunction
- can range from clinically insignificant to a comatose state
- most patients are identified to be severe and commonly have a GCS of less than 8
etiology of DAI
- most common etiology involves high-speed motor vehicle accidents
- most common mechanism involves an accelerating and decelerating motion that leads to shearing forces to the white matter tracts of the brain
- commonly affects white matter tracts involved in the corpus callosum and brainstem
coup contra coup
- coup injury refers to the brain damage that occurs directly under the point of impact
- coutra coup injury occurs on the opposite side of the brain from where the head is struck
(when a blow is taken to one side of the skull/brain and then the skull/brain rocks back and forth in reaction)
bad design of the skull
if brain slides against ethmoid ridge and/or sphenoid ridge, it can get wrecked
ethmoid ridge
bone separating the hemispheres
sphenoid ridge
bone separating frontal and temporal lobes
one consequence of contusions
orbitofrontal cortex damage
- affects executive function
clinical features of mild traumatic brain injury: initial presentation
- initial loss of consciousness lasting seconds to minutes, but not lasting longer than 30 minutes
- period of confusion (post-traumatic amnesia) lasting minutes to hours, but can last up to 24 hours
- any combination of headaches, neck ache, dizziness, and nausea
- typically no focal findings on the remainder of the neurological examination
clinical features of mild traumatic brain injury: follow-up presentation
“neural injury”
- cognitive deficits (attention, memory, and executive function)
- behavioral deficits (depression, anxiety)
“non-neural injury”
- systemic deficits (head/neck ache, dizziness, poor sleep)