WSU SLP 6480 week 12 traumatic brain injury

traumatic brain injury (TBI)

damage to the brain that occurs as a result of an external and usually forceful event; falls, traffic accidents, sports accidents, being struck by an object, violent assaults; does NOT include damage to the brain caused by disease/stroke/etc

individuals most at risk for TBI

people younger than 4 years old and older than 75 years old; adolescent males, alcohol/drug users, ppl w lower socioeconomic status, law enforcement/military personnel, individuals who have experienced past TBI

closed head injuries

forms of trauma causing damage to the brain that do not break an individual’s skull open and penetrate the cerebral meninges surrounding the brain; skull remains intact

2 types of closed head TBIs

acceleration-deceleration injuries and impact-based injuries

acceleration-deceleration closed head injuries

occur when a person’s body is moving very fast through space and then comes to a very abrupt halt suddenly enough to cause the person’s brain to slam into and bounce around inside the skull with damaging levels of force; diffuse axonal shearing and coup-countercoup

impact-based TBI

injury to the brain that occurs as a result of an individual’s head being hit by another object

open head traumatic brain injury

injury that penetrates the skull into the brain; an object penetrates the skull into the brain; common cause is ballistic trauma

secondary mechanisms of damage in TBI

refer to negative health effects that occur indirectly as a result of TBI; increased intracranial pressure (headaches), cerebral edema (swelling), traumatic hydrocephalus (water on the brain)

traumatic hemorrhage

bleeding of blood vessels as a result of trauma - whenever blood hits neurons, the neurons die because they are suffocated; 3 types: intracerebral, subdural, epidural

intracerebral hemorrage

traumatic hemorrhage within the brain itself

subdural hemorrhage

hemorrhage that occurs between the dura mater and the arachnoid mater

epidural hemorrhage

hemorrhage that occurs between the dura mater and the skull

hematoma

gathering of blood outside of a blood vessel following a hemorrhage

subdural hematoma

occurs when blood vessels

epidural hematoma

post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE)

a seizure condition that occurs consequent to a TBI; these seizures cause additional damage to the brain and significantly and negatively affect prognosis for recovery of lost functions

50% of those with open head wounds

experience some degree of post-traumatic epilepsy

shaken baby syndrome

the physical violence of a caregiver shaking the child and a common cause of traumatic brain injury and death in children

diffuse axonal shearing

occurs when neuronal connections are broken and create microlesions across large areas of the brain as a result of the brain being warped inside the skull by high levels of g-force

coup-contrecoup

a two-step profile of damage from an acceleration-deceleration-style closed head injury

coup portion of damage

occurs when a person’s head is slung forward to hit an object; the head comes to an abrupt halt, which causes the frontal lobes of the brain to impact the anterior inside of the skull

contrecoup portion of damage

occurs when the head ricochets backward from the initial impact and makes a second impact, damaging another portion of the brain

increased intracranial pressure

when the amount of intracranial pressure (pressure within the skull that is exerted on the brain) rises above normal; possible side effect of TBI

cerebral edema

the swelling of the brain tissue that occurs following trauma to the brain; can cause increased intracranial pressure

traumatic hydrocephalus

when the brain is unable to reabsorb excess cerebrospinal fluid thereby leading to increased intracranial pressure (water on the brain)