NURS3372-Module10A

What is Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)?

Alteration in brain function from external force, often from motor vehicle accidents, falls, or blunt trauma.

What are the two categories of brain injury?

Primary (direct impact) and secondary (indirect consequences of primary injury).

What characterizes a focal brain injury?

Observable brain lesion caused by the force of impact, typically producing contusions.

How is a closed brain injury defined?

It's when the dura remains intact, and the brain isn’t exposed to the environment.

What are coup and contrecoup injuries?

Coup refers to the injury directly below the point of impact, while contrecoup refers to the injury opposite the site of impact.

What can contusions lead to?

Epidural hematomas, subdural hematomas, and intracerebral hematomas.

What defines an open brain injury?

Injury that breaks the dura and exposes cranial contents to the environment.

What are the categories of diffuse brain injury?

Mild concussion, classic cerebral concussion, and mild to severe diffuse axonal injuries (DAIs).

What causes diffuse axonal injury (DAI)?

Acceleration/deceleration or rotational forces leading to axonal damage.

What are the symptoms of a mild TBI?

No or short loss of consciousness, confusion for minutes, and retrograde amnesia.

What happens in a severe TBI?

Loss of consciousness longer than 6 hours and severe cognitive deficits.

What defines a mild concussion?

Immediate but temporary clinical manifestations, confusion lasting for minutes.

What is a classic cerebral concussion?

Loss of consciousness under 6 hours with amnesia and confusion lasting hours to days.

What is a secondary brain injury?

An indirect result of primary brain injury involving trauma and systemic processes.

What is postconcussion syndrome?

Symptoms that last for weeks or months after a concussion requiring symptomatic relief.

What characterizes chronic traumatic encephalopathy?

A progressive dementing disease often seen in sports injuries and blast trauma.

What is primary spinal cord injury?

Injury occurring with initial mechanical trauma and immediate tissue destruction.

What follows a secondary spinal cord injury?

A cascading pathophysiologic event that may be life-threatening if cervical swelling occurs.

What types of vertebral injuries are common?

Simple fracture, compressed (wedged) fracture, and dislocation.

What is spinal shock?

Complete loss of reflex function and other symptoms below the level of injury.

What causes neurogenic shock?

Injury above T5 leading to unopposed parasympathetic tone due to absent sympathetic activity.

What is autonomic hyperreflexia?

Massive cardiovascular response to stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system below cord lesions.

What can cause low back pain?

Degenerative disk disease, spondylolysis, spondylolisthesis, spinal stenosis.

What defines degenerative disk disease (DDD)?

Normal aging combined with a genetic predisposition.

What is a herniated intervertebral disk?

Displacement of the nucleus pulposus or annulus fibrosus resulting from trauma or degeneration.

What characterizes cerebrovascular disease (CVD)?

Any abnormality of the brain caused by processes in the blood vessels.

What are the leading causes of cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs)?

Ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes.

What is a transient ischemic attack (TIA)?

Neurological dysfunction lasting less than 1 hour due to an ischemic event.

What is a thrombotic stroke?

Arterial occlusion caused by thrombi formed in arteries supplying the brain.

What happens during cerebral infarction?

An area of the brain loses blood supply due to vascular occlusion, causing irreversible necrosis.

What distinguishes hemorrhagic stroke?

Bleeding in brain tissue caused primarily by hypertension.

What is an intracranial aneurysm?

Dilation or ballooning of a cerebral vessel due to weakness in the vessel wall.

What is subarachnoid hemorrhage?

Blood escaping into the subarachnoid space from defective or injured vasculature.

What is the main clinical manifestation of bacterial meningitis?

Infection of pia mater, arachnoid villi, and subarachnoid space caused by specific bacteria.

What characterizes viral meningitis?

Infection limited to the meninges, usually resulting in milder symptoms than bacterial meningitis.

What does fungal meningitis involve?

Chronic infection that leads to granulomatous reactions in the meninges.

What is a brain abscess?

Localized collection of pus within the parenchyma, often risky for immunosuppressed individuals.

What are common early symptoms of a brain abscess?

Low-grade fever, headache, neck pain, and confusion.

What can encephalitis result from?

Acute inflammation due to viral infections from sources like mosquitos or herpes simplex type 1.

What are neurologic complications of AIDS?

Includes HAND, HIV myelopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and opportunistic infections.

What defines multiple sclerosis (MS)?

A chronic progressive inflammatory, demyelinating disorder characterized by loss of myelin.

What is Guillain-Barré Syndrome?

An inflammatory disease causing demyelination of peripheral nerves, often following an infection.

What occurs in Myasthenia Gravis?

Weakness and fatigue of muscles caused by an autoimmune response against acetylcholine receptors.

What are the types of peripheral nervous system disorders?

Mononeuropathies, multiple mononeuropathies, polyneuropathy, and autonomic neuropathies.

What are primary brain tumors?

Includes gliomas like astrocytoma, oligodendroglioma, and ependymoma.

How are meningiomas classified?

As extracebral tumors arising from the meninges.

What are the symptoms of spinal cord tumors?

Compressive syndrome and irritative syndrome caused by tumors pressing on spinal tissue.

What is a significant complication of spinal cord abscesses?

Progressive cord compression leading to weakness and paralysis.

What differentiates the types of headaches?

Migraine - unilateral and throbbing; Cluster - severe with autonomic symptoms; Tension - mild to moderate with pressure.

What defines a migraine?

A familial episodic disorder characterized by recurrent headaches lasting 4 to 72 hours.

What triggers cluster headaches?

Trigeminal activation with severe unilateral pain, often occurring in clusters.

How common are tension-type headaches?

The most common type, presenting as a mild to moderate tight band around the head.