'Brain damage' is a term no longer used today and has been replaced in recent decades by 'brain injury' (BI); meaning the destruction or degeneration of brain cells, often with an implication that the loss is significant in terms of functioning or conscious experience. It is a common and very broad in scope, such that in medicine a vast range of specific diagnoses exist. Brain injuries occur due to a wide range of internal and external factors. A popular category with the greatest number of injuries is traumatic brain injury Traumatic brain injury occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism (closed or penetrating head injury), or other features (e.g. occurring in a specific location or over a widespread area). Head injury usually refers to TBI, but is a broader category because it can involve damage (TBI) following physical trauma Physical trauma refers to a physical injury, generally of a considerable degree. A trauma patient is someone who has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury, with the potential for secondary complications such as shock, respiratory failure and death/head injury Head injury refers to trauma to the head. This may or may not include injury to the brain. However, the terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in the medical literature from an outside source, and the term acquired brain injury An acquired brain injury is damage to the brain acquired after birth. It usually affects cognitive, physical, emotional, social or independent functioning and can result from traumatic brain injury (i.e. accidents, falls, assaults, etc.) and nontraumatic brain injury (i.e. stroke, brain tumours, infection, poisoning, hypoxia, ischemia, (ABI) is used in appropriate circles, to differentiate brain injuries occurring after birth Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. Different forms of birth are oviparity, vivipary and ovovivipary from injury due to a disorder A genetic disorder is an illness caused by abnormalities in genes or chromosomes. While some diseases, such as cancer, are due in part to a genetic disorders, they can also be caused by environmental factors. Most disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousands or millions. Some types of recessive gene disorders confer an or congential Congenital disorder involves defects in or damage to a developing fetus. It may be the result of genetic abnormalities, the intrauterine environment, errors of morphogenesis, or a chromosomal abnormality. The outcome of the disorder will further depend on complex interactions between the pre-natal deficit and the post-natal environment. Animal malady.
Contents |
Causes
Brain injuries occur due to a very wide range of conditions, illnesses Illness is a state of poor health. Illness is sometimes considered a synonym for disease. Others maintain that fine distinctions exist. Some have described illness as the subjective perception by a patient of an objectively defined disease, injuries Injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or function of the body caused by an outside agent or force, which may be physical or chemical, and is either unintentional (For e.g. accidents at work, sports injury) or intentional (For e.g. suicide, homicide). A severe and life-threatening injury is referred to as a physical trauma, and as a result of iatrogenesis The terms iatrogenesis and iatrogenic artifact refer to inadvertent adverse effects or complications caused by or resulting from medical treatment or advice. In addition to harmful consequences of actions by physicians, iatrogenesis can also refer to actions by other healthcare professionals, such as psychologists, therapists, pharmacists, nurses, (adverse effects of medical treatment). Possible causes of widespread (diffuse) brain damage include prolonged hypoxia Hypoxia is a pathological condition in which the body as a whole or a region of the body (tissue hypoxia) is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. Variations in arterial oxygen concentrations can be part of the normal physiology, for example, during strenuous physical exercise. A mismatch between oxygen supply and its demand at the cellular level (shortage of oxygen Oxygen (pronounced /ˈɒksɨdʒɨn/, OK-si-jin, from the Greek roots ὀξύς (acid, literally "sharp", from the taste of acids) and -γενής (-genēs) (producer, literally begetter), is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. It is a member of the chalcogen group on the periodic table, and is a highly), poisoning In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism. Legally and in hazardous chemical labeling, poisons are especially toxic substances; less toxic substances are labeled " by teratogens Teratology is the study of abnormalities of physiological development. It is often thought of as the study of birth defects, but it is much broader than that, taking in other developmental stages, such as puberty; and other life forms, such as plants (including alcohol In chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl functional group (-O ), infection An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host's resources to multiply, usually at the expense of the host. The infecting organism, or pathogen, interferes with the normal functioning of the host and can lead to chronic wounds, gangrene, loss, and neurological illness Neurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue, such as muscle. The corresponding surgical specialty. Chemotherapy Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, is the treatment of a disease by chemicals especially by killing micro-organisms or cancerous cells. In popular usage, it refers to antineoplastic drugs used to treat cancer or the combination of these drugs into a cytotoxic standardized treatment regimen. In its non-oncological use, the term may also refer can cause brain damage to the neural stem cells Stem cells are cells found in all multi cellular organisms. They are characterized by the ability to renew themselves through mitotic cell division and differentiate into a diverse range of specialized cell types. Research in the stem cell field grew out of findings by Ernest A. McCulloch and James E. Till at the University of Toronto in the 1960s and oligodendrocyte Oligodendrocytes , or oligodendroglia (Greek, few tree glue), are a type of brain cell. They are a variety of neuroglia (to be specific, a sub-type of macroglia). Their main function is the insulation of axons (the long projection of nerve cells) in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) of higher vertebrates. (The same function is cells that produce myelin Myelin is a dielectric material that forms a layer, the myelin sheath, usually around only the axon of a neuron. It is essential for the proper functioning of the nervous system. Myelin is an outgrowth of a glial cell. Schwann cells supply the myelin for peripheral neurons, whereas oligodendrocytes, specifically of the interfascicular type,. Common causes of focal or localized brain damage Focal and diffuse brain injury are ways to classify traumatic brain injury: focal injury occurs in a specific location, while diffuse injury occurs over a more widespread area. It is common for both focal and diffuse damage to occur as the result of the same event; many traumatic brain injuries have aspects of both focal and diffuse injury. Focal are physical trauma Physical trauma refers to a physical injury, generally of a considerable degree. A trauma patient is someone who has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury, with the potential for secondary complications such as shock, respiratory failure and death (traumatic brain injury Traumatic brain injury occurs when an external force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism (closed or penetrating head injury), or other features (e.g. occurring in a specific location or over a widespread area). Head injury usually refers to TBI, but is a broader category because it can involve damage, stroke A stroke, known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function(s) due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia (lack of blood flow) caused by blockage (thrombosis, arterial embolism), or a hemorrhage (leakage of blood). As a result, the affected area of the brain is, aneurysm An aneurysm or aneurism , is a localized, blood-filled dilation (balloon-like bulge) of a blood vessel caused by disease or weakening of the vessel wall, surgery Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, and sometimes for religious reasons. An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply, other neurological disorder A neurological disorder is a disorder of the body's nervous system. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain or spinal cord, or in the nerves leading to or from them, can result in symptoms such as paralysis, muscle weakness, poor coordination, loss of sensation, seizures, confusion, pain and altered levels of consciousness, and heavy metals poisoning including by mercury and its compounds of lead or blows to the back of skull.
Signs and symptoms
Brain injuries often create long-term impairment or disability The World Health Organization defines Disability as follows: "Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a which can vary greatly in severity. In cases of serious brain injuries, the likelihood of areas with permanent disability The World Health Organization defines Disability as follows: "Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a are great, including neurocognitive deficits Neuropsychology Neurocognitive is a term used to describe cognitive functions closely linked to the function of particular areas, neural pathways, or cortical networks in the brain. Therefore, their understanding is closely linked to the practice of neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience, two disciplines that broadly seek to understand how the, delusions A delusion is a fixed belief that is either false, fanciful, or derived from deception. In psychiatry, it is defined to be a belief that is pathological and is held despite evidence to the contrary. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, dogma, stupidity, apperception, illusion, or other effects of (often specifically monothematic delusions), speech or movement problems, and mental handicap Mental retardation is a generalized disorder, characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age of 18. It has historically been defined as an Intelligence Quotient score under 70. Once focused almost entirely on cognition, the definition now includes both a. There will also be personality changes. The most severe cases result in coma In medicine, a coma is a profound state of unconsciousness. A person in a coma cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to pain, light or sound, does not have sleep-wake cycles, and does not take voluntary actions. A person in a state of coma can be described as comatose or even persistent vegetative state A persistent vegetative state is a condition of patients with severe brain damage who were in a coma, but progressed to a state of wakefulness without detectable awareness. It is a diagnosis of some uncertainty in that it deals with a syndrome. After four weeks in a Vegetative State , the patient is classified as in a Persistent Vegetative State.
Brain injury whether from stroke, alcohol abuse, traumatic brain injury, or vitamin B deficiency can sometimes result in Korsakoff's Psychosis, where the individual engages in confabulations. Confabulations involve the inability to separate daydream memory from real memory and the filling in of memory lapses with daydreams. Like all other symptoms of brain injuries, Korsakoff's Psychosis if often mis-diagnosed, in this case as schizophrenia.
Management
Various professions may be involved in the medical care and rehabilitation Physical therapy is a health profession that assesses and provides treatment to individuals to develop, maintain and restore maximum movement and function throughout life. This includes providing treatment in circumstances where movement and function are threatened by aging, injury, disease or environmental factors of someone who suffers impairment after a brain injury. Neurologists A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders. This includes diseases of the brain, spinal cord, nerves, and muscles. A neurologist is trained to perform a detailed examination of all the important neurological structures in the body: the nerves of the head, neurosurgeons Neurosurgery is the medical specialty concerned with the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of disorders that affect the entire nervous system including the brain, spinal column, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and extra-cranial cerebrovascular system, and physiatrists Physical medicine and rehabilitation , or physiatry (pronounced /fɪ.zi.ˈæ.tri/ or /fɪ.ˈzaɪ.ə.tri/), is a branch of medicine which aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to those with physical impairments or disabilities. A physician who has completed training in this field is referred to as a physiatrist. In are physicians A physician—also known as doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor—practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury. This properly requires both a detailed knowledge of the academic disciplines underlying who specialise in treating brain injury. Neuropsychologists Neuropsychology is the basic scientific discipline that studies the structure and function of the brain related to specific psychological processes and overt behaviors. The term neuropsychology has been applied to lesion studies in humans and animals. It has also been applied to efforts to record electrical activity from individual cells in higher (especially clinical neuropsychologists Clinical neuropsychology is a sub-specialty of clinical psychology that specializes in the diagnostic assessment and treatment of patients with brain injury or neurocognitive deficits) are psychologists There are many different types of psychologists, as is reflected by the 56 different divisions of the American Psychological Association . Psychologists are generally described as being either "applied" or "research-oriented". The common terms used to describe this central division in psychology are "scientists" or & who specialise in understanding the effects of brain injury and may be involved in assessing the severity or creating rehabilitation strategies. Occupational therapists Occupational therapy promotes health by enabling people to perform meaningful and purposeful occupations. These include work, leisure, self care, domestic and community activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals, families, groups and communities to facilitate health and well-being through engagement or re-engagement in occupation may be involved in running rehabilitation programs to help restore lost function or help re-learn essential skills. Registered nurses A registered nurse , is a health care professional responsible for implementing the practice of nursing through the use of the nursing process in conjunction with other health care professionals. Registered nurses work as patient advocates for the care and recovery of the sick and maintenance of their health. In their work as advocates for the, such as those working in hospital Intensive Care Units An intensive care unit , critical care unit (CCU), intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) is a specialized department used in many countries' hospitals that provides intensive care medicine. Many hospitals also have designated intensive care areas for certain specialities of medicine, as dictated by the needs and available, are able to maintain the health of the severely brain-injured with constant administration of medication and neurological monitoring, including the use of the Glasgow Coma Scale Glasgow Coma Scale or GCS is a neurological scale that aims to give a reliable, objective way of recording the conscious state of a person for initial as well as subsequent assessment. A patient is assessed against the criteria of the scale, and the resulting points give a patient score between 3 and either 14 (original scale) or 15 (the more used by other health professionals to quantify extent of orientation.
The effects of impairment or disability The World Health Organization defines Disability as follows: "Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a resulting from brain injury may be treated by a number of methods, including medication A pharmaceutical drug, also referred to as medicine, medication or medicament, can be loosely defined as any chemical substance intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment, or prevention of disease, psychotherapy Psychotherapy, or personal counseling with a psychotherapist, is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a client or patient in problems of living, neuropsychological rehabilitation, snoezelen, surgery, or physical implants such as deep brain stimulation.
Prognosis
Prognosis, or the likely progress of a disorder, depends on the nature, location and cause of the brain damage (see Traumatic brain injury).
In general, neuroregeneration can occur in the peripheral nervous system but is much rarer and more difficult to assist in the central nervous system (brain or spinal cord). However, in neural development in humans, areas of the brain can learn to compensate for other damaged areas, and may increase in size and complexity and even change function, just as someone who loses a sense may gain increased acuity in another sense - a process termed neuroplasticity.
It is a common misconception that a brain injury sustained during childhood always has a better chance of successful recovery than similar injury acquired in adult life. It is contested that in recent studies, severe brain injuries inflicted upon children can be alleviated by the interaction of nicotinamide repropagation in nerve cells.[citation needed] However, the consequences of childhood injury may simply[citation needed] be more difficult to detect in the short term. This is because different cortical areas mature at different stages, with some major cell populations and their corresponding cognitive faculties remaining unrefined until early adulthood. In the case of a child with frontal brain injury, for example, the impact of the damage may be undetectable until that child fails to develop normal executive functions in his or her late teens and early twenties.
See also
- Cerebral Palsy
- Epilepsy
- Fetal alcohol syndrome
- Head injury
- Lobotomy
- Frontal lobe injury
- Nerve injury
- Neurocognitive deficit
- Neurology
- Primary and secondary brain injury
- Rehabilitation (neuropsychology)
- Traumatic brain injury
External links
Categories: Neurotrauma | Neurosurgery | Neurology | Causes of death
|
Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:25:45 GMT+00:00
CTV.ca A local man is suing the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and two hospitals after he suffered brain damage when he had to wait hours for treatment. ...
puddlepup
hu, 22 Jul 2010 20:49:11 GM
7 mo Pomeranian possible . brain damage. ? - Dog Questions and Answers. I-Love-Dogs is the place to discuss 7 mo Pomeranian possible . brain damage. ?. I have a seventh month old Pomeranian that I adopted from a couple that lived in the same ...
