Basics of Brain Injury
Articles on neurological conditions, brain imaging techniques, and much more.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or penetrating head injury. TBI survivors may have trouble returning to work and fatigue, memory problems, or loss of concentration make it challenging to carry out simple tasks.
Traumatic brain injury is one of the world's most common leading causes of death. It has affected the lives of many people around the world. Here is an article about statistics regarding traumatic brain injury collected in the US and Canada.
A brain aneurysm is a bulge or ballooning in a blood vessel in the brain. It often looks like a berry hanging on a stem and can leak or rupture, causing bleeding into the brain. (This is a type of hemorrhage stroke.) Brain aneurysms are more common in adults than in children and more common in women than in men.
Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation to the brain, also commonly known as intrapartum asphyxia. Although adults can experience HIE, it is most commonly occurs as a serious birth complication as the result of an oxygen-depriving event during or around the time of birth.
As we know, brain cells can't regenerate after they are being destroyed. However, traumatic brain injury can be recovered since our brain has neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is the primary way that the brain can repair itself after a traumatic injury.
Imagine losing the ability to understand words written in our favourite books or make a complete sentence that our friends can comprehend. This is what people with aphasia experience on a regular basis. Due to brain injury, they can not understand or express speech properly. How should we communicate if we have aphasia? How should we communicate to people with aphasia?
Do you ever wonder what contributes to the pathologies of brain injury the most? The answers are microscopic damages to the axons in our neurons. More than 40% of traumatic brain injuries that require long term medical help are due to Diffuse Axonal Injury, DAI.
In many of our previous threads, terms like “neuropsychological exam” have been brought up frequently in the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury. But what is a neuropsychological exam? What do doctors perform and when do people need to be evaluated?
Neuroimaging or brain imaging is the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function, or pharmacology of the nervous system. It is a relatively new discipline within medicine, neuroscience, and psychology. Neuroradiological tests can help doctors visualize damage to the brain. An abnormal result may indicate a traumatic brain injury.
When a traumatic brain injury occurs, specialists decide on a treatment by looking at the severity of the injury, which can be on a scale from Mild to Severe. Doctors have come to find multiple treatments of different brain injury severities and have concluded what life may be like during and after a TBI.
Concussion is one of the most common brain injuries in the world. Every year, there are about 3 million cases in the US. Concussion occurs frequently in people involved in sport activities. Although concussion is not usually fatal, its effects can be serious and lasting. Concussion is treatable by medical professionals.
Seizure is associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Seizure is one of the prominent symptoms of epilepsy, a disorder characterized by the recurrence of seizures. There are about 200,000 cases every year in the US. Usually, epilepsy can be diagnosed if the individual has more than two episodes of seizures.
Cerebral Sinus Vein Thrombosis, CSVT, is a rare type of thrombosis with high difficulty in diagnosis and treatments. It affects about 3 to 4 adults per million and 7 children per million. It also has sexual predominance since 75% of patients are female.
Meningitis is an inflammation of the fluid and membranes (meninges) surrounding your brain and spinal cord. The swelling from meningitis typically triggers signs and symptoms such as headache, fever and a stiff neck.
Moyamoya disease is a rare vascular disorder in which the carotid artery in the skull becomes blocked or narrowed, reducing blood flow to your brain. Tiny blood vessels then open up at the base of the brain in an attempt to supply the brain with blood. It most commonly affects children, but adults may also have the condition. It is found all over the world but is most commonly seen in Japan, Korea and China.
Hemorrhage and hematomas are medical terms of bleeding. They often occur in traumatic brain injury cases. But what is the difference between hemorrhage and hematoma? What are symptoms and how should we respond to it? This article will specifically focus on brain hemorrhage and hematoma.
In many dramas, characters being in a coma have always been a significant conflict. They tend to be in a state of “deep sleep” and not responsive to things around them. In this article, we will discover what coma is and how to visit a patient in coma.