head injuries

Question 1

what are examples of focal head injuries?

Answer 1

Scalp - bruising or lacerations
Skull - fractures
Meninges - haemorrhage or infection
Brian - bruising, lacerations (pia mater), haemorrhage, infection

Question 2

what are examples of diffuse head injuries?

Answer 2

Axonal
Vascular
Hypoxic ischaemic change
Swelling

Question 3

Skull fractures:

Answer 3

Considerable force
Risk of haematoma, infection and aerocele
Angled or pointed objects cause localised fractures, often depressed
Flat surface causes linear fractures (extend to skull base can be called contrecoup fractures)

Question 4

what infection can skull fractures lead to?

Answer 4

meningitis

Question 5

what can be seen microscopically in diffuse axonal traumatic head injury?

Answer 5

Microscopic - swellings, build up of matter within axons, amyloid precursor protein, due to damage to axon

Question 6

what is the recovery like after diffuse axonal traumatic head injury

Answer 6

mild - regain consciousness

moderate, unconscious for extended time - long term disability more likely

Question 7

diffuse vascular injury:

Answer 7

Multiple petechial haemorrhages throughout brain

Near Immediate death

Question 8

how is brain swelling caused?

Answer 8

Congested brain swelling
Vasogenic oedema
Cytotoxic oedema

Question 9

what is brain herniation caused by?

Answer 9

bleeding or brain swelling

Question 10

hypoxic ischaemic change:

Answer 10

Hippocampus, purkinje cells
Raised intracranial pressure
hypotension

Question 11

chronic traumatic encephalopathy:

Answer 11

Shown due to mild brain trauma as well as larger trauma
Irritable, aggression, doeression, memory loss
Dementia, gait, speech problems, parkinsonisms
MND like symptoms
Thin corpus callosum
Wide lateral ventricles
Deposits of tau around sucla depths and blood vessels in neurons and glia