Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. [8] Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, mood changes, a brief period of memory loss, brief loss of consciousness; problems with balance; nausea; blurred vision; and mood changes.
Because a patient may have a lucid interval, any significant head trauma is regarded as a medical emergency and receives emergency medical treatment even if the patient is conscious. Delayed cerebral edema , a very serious and potentially fatal condition in which the brain swells dramatically, may follow a lucid interval that occurs after a ...
Traumatic brain injury is defined as damage to the brain resulting from external mechanical force, such as rapid acceleration or deceleration, impact, blast waves, or penetration by a projectile. [10] Brain function is temporarily or permanently impaired and structural damage may or may not be detectable with current technology. [11]
The brain damage caused by radiation depends on where the brain tumor is located, the amount of radiation used, and the duration of the treatment. Radiosurgery can also lead to tissue damage that results in about 1 in 20 patients requiring a second operation to remove the damaged tissue. [27] [28]
Treatment of the loss of autoregulation of the brain's blood vessels may be difficult or impossible. [29] When SIS occurs, surgery does not help and there is little hope for recovery. [ 23 ] Treatment requires immediate recognition and includes administration of osmotic agents and hyperventilation [ 23 ] in order to lower intracranial pressure.
The phenomenon has been observed to occur several minutes after the removal of medical ventilators used to pump air in and out of brain-dead patients. [4] It also occurs during testing for apnea—that is, suspension of external breathing and motion of the lung muscles—which is one of the criteria for determining brain death used for example by the American Academy of Neurology.
The diagnosis is usually made by a brain scan , in which areas of swelling can be identified. The treatment for PRES is supportive: removal of the cause or causes and treatment of any of the complications, such as anticonvulsants for seizures. PRES may be complicated by intracranial hemorrhage, but this is relatively rare. The majority of ...
Unconsciousness may occur as the result of traumatic brain injury, brain hypoxia (inadequate oxygen, possibly due to a brain infarction or cardiac arrest), severe intoxication with drugs that depress the activity of the central nervous system (e.g., alcohol and other hypnotic or sedative drugs), severe fatigue, pain, anaesthesia, and other causes.