Concussions Flashcards
Severe: GCS <9
Moderate: GCS 9-12
Mild: GCS 13-15
Used to classify what?
Traumatic Brain Injuries
Almost 2 million TBI US/yearly
75-95% fall into ____ category
Highest mortality for severe in young (15-24) and old (over 65)
“mild”
- Young people
- Low income
- Unmarried
- Athletes (contact sports)
- Soldiers
- Members of ethnic minorities
- Residents of inner cities
- Men (3:1)
- Hx of substance abuse
- Suffered previous
At greatest risk for what?
TBI
MVC/MVA (leading cause in general population)
Falls
Occupational accidents
Recreational accidents
Assaults/violance (war)
Sports
ALOCHOL (increases all the above)
Common causes of _____?
TBI
15 point scale used to rate mental status and function—used to rate severity of brain injury and predict outcome
Based on eye opening, verbal responses and motor control
15 is the highest score
3 is the lowest score
Should be performed at triage and repeatedly during evaluation
Any decrease in score is a danger sign
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)
Best eye response for TBI
How many grades are there?
4
- No eye opening
- Eye opening in response to pain (Patient responds to pressure on the patient’s fingernail bed; if this does not elicit a response, supraorbital pressure and/or sternal rub may be used—with caution)
- Eye opening to speech. 1.. (Not to be confused with an awaking of a sleeping person; such patients receive a score of 4, not 3.)
- Eyes opening spontaneously
Best eye response for TBI
- No verbal response
- Incomprehensible sounds. (Moaning but no words.)
- Inappropriate words. (Random or exclamatory articulated speech, but no conversational exchange)
- Confused. (The patient responds to questions coherently but there is some disorientation and confusion.)
- Oriented. (Patient responds coherently and appropriately to questions such as the patient’s name and age, where they are and why, the year, month, etc.)
Best verbal response for TBI
best verbal response for TBI
How many grades?
5
Best motor response for TBI
How many grades?
6
- No motor response
- Extension to pain (decerebrate response)
- Abnormal flexion to pain (decorticate response)
- Flexion/Withdrawal to pain (flexion of elbow, supination of forearm, flexion of wrist when supra-orbital pressure applied; pulls part of body away when nailbed pinched)
- Localizes to pain. (Purposeful movements towards painful stimuli; e.g., hand crosses mid-line and gets above clavicle when supra-orbital pressure applied.)
- Obeys commands. (The patient does simple things as asked.)
Best motor response
3 types of tissue deformation: Compression, Tensile, Shear
Mechanical injury to neurons & axons
Direct & indirect
Coup & Countercoup
Acceleration & deceleration
Seen in what?
Primary injury with TBI
Tissue compression
Compression
Tissue stretching
Tensile
Tissue distortion when tissue slides over tissue
Shear
Occurs in minutes, hours, days AFTER the inital insult
Microscopic/cellular: intracellular swelling, electrolyte imbalances (Na, K, Cl, Ca, Mg), inflammatory response (increased cytokines), Cytoxic edema, disruption of axonal neurofilament organization
More severe: cerebral arterial dilation, intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral edema, ischemia/hypoxia. increased intracranial pressure
What type of TBI injury?
Secondary injury