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Studies on animals have shown that the brain may be more vulnerable to a second concussive injury administered shortly after a first. [31] In one such study, a mild impact administered within 24 hours of another one with minimal neurological impairment caused massive breakdown of the blood brain barrier and subsequent brain swelling. [22]
Cerebral edema is commonly seen in a variety of brain injuries including ischemic stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumatic brain injury, subdural, epidural, or intracerebral hematoma, hydrocephalus, brain cancer, brain infections, low blood sodium levels, high altitude, and acute liver failure.
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]
Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is the most widely used scoring system used to assess the level of severity of a brain injury. This method is based on the objective observations of specific traits to determine the severity of a brain injury. It is based on three traits: eye opening, verbal response, and motor response, gauged as described below. [35]
Although it is a diffuse type of brain injury itself, diffuse vascular injury is generally more likely to be caused by focal than diffuse injury. [4] Swelling, commonly seen after TBI, can lead to dangerous increases in intracranial pressure. [4] Though swelling itself is a diffuse type of injury, it can result from either focal or diffuse ...
High levels of intracellular Ca 2+, the major cause of post-injury cell damage, [30] destroy mitochondria, [11] and trigger phospholipases and proteolytic enzymes that damage Na+ channels and degrade or alter the cytoskeleton and the axoplasm. [31] [26] Excess Ca 2+ can also lead to damage to the blood–brain barrier and swelling of the brain ...
In addition, some patients may develop "pseudoaneurysms" after trauma which can eventually burst and bleed, a factor which might account for the delay in loss of consciousness. [ 4 ] 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 ...
A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. [ 1 ] Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of injuries, there are many causes—including accidents, falls, physical assault, or traffic accidents—that ...