TBI Flashcards
What are the annual statistics for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)?
TBI causes 52,000 deaths a year, 275,000 hospitalizations, and 1,365,000 ER visits.
What are the risk factors for TBI?
Risk factors include age, male-to-female ratio, alcohol & drug abuse, low socioeconomic status, psychiatric illness, and history of TBI.
What are the types of TBI?
Types include open head injury (penetrating) and closed head injury (non-penetrating), primary and secondary injuries
What are primary injuries in TBI?
Primary injuries occur as a result of trauma and involve a combination of impact and acceleration/deceleration.
What are examples of primary injuries?
Examples include skull fractures, contusions/lacerations, hemorrhage, and diffuse axonal injury.
What are the primary sites of damage in TBI?
The primary sites of damage are the frontal and temporal cortex.
What is Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI)?
DAI occurs when linear and/or rotational forces cause axons to twist, stretch, or tear.
How is injury severity measured in TBI?
Injury severity is measured using the Glasgow Coma Scale, duration of coma, and duration of post-traumatic amnesia.
What are secondary injuries in TBI?
Secondary injuries result from primary injuries and include cerebral edema, hypoxia-ischemia/hypotension, neurochemical & metabolic changes, and hematomas.
What are pediatric considerations for TBI?
Pediatric considerations include features of the developing skull and brain, such as thin and pliable skull, head size, neck musculature, and high water content in the brain.
What are unique clinical considerations for TBI?
Unique clinical considerations include post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, hearing loss, and tinnitus.
What is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy?
caused by repetitive head trauma and is characterized by excessive amounts of tau protein throughout the brain.
What factors influence recovery from TBI?
Recovery factors include injury severity, location, age at the time of injury, pre-injury functioning, developmental trajectory, and environmental factors.
What are the stages of recovery from TBI?
- Impaired consciousness
- PTSD amnesia or severe confusion and disorientation
- Rapid recovery
- Long-term consequences
What is the recovery timeline for mild TBI?
For mild TBI, adults typically recover in 14 days, while children may take 1 month.
What are the consequences of TBI?
Consequences can be motor (including swallowing), sensory, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, communication, and social communication.
What are cognitive deficits associated with TBI?
Cognitive deficits can include orientation, attention, memory, executive functions, processing speed, and difficulty interpreting figurative language.
What challenges do individuals with TBI face in social communication?
Challenges include producing relevant utterances, hinting, negotiating, and word finding.
Attention
- Can have impairment in one or more areas
- Impairments can impact testing and participation in rehabilitation
Memory
- Storing and retrieving
- Declarative memory
Executive functions
- Initiating or inhibiting
- Problem-solving
Theory of mind
Taking another person’s perspective
Processing speed
Slower to processes information
