TBI Flashcards
1
Q
TBI - defintion
A
- damage to the brain due to a forceful external event
- caused by falls, vehicle accidents, struck, sports accident, or violent assault
2
Q
TBI - at risk
A
- adolescent males (sports/risk-takers)
- children under 4 (falls/shaken baby)
- adults over 75 (falls/why?)
3
Q
closed head injury
A
- doesn’t break the skull open or penetrate cerebral meninges
- acceleration/deceleration injuries
4
Q
acceleration/deceleration injuries
A
brain is accelerating and comes to a sudden stop (whiplash)
- coup contre-coup injury (front = C and back of head = CC)
5
Q
diffuse axonal shearing
A
- g-force - angular movement
- twisting and shearing of structures (shaken baby - they have no control)
- more damage than open head
6
Q
open head TBI
A
- penetrates the skull into the brain
- specific in location
7
Q
secondary mechanisms of damage
A
- increased intracranial pressure (cerebral edema - cut off square of skull to reduce swelling)
- traumatic hydrocephalus (fluid)
- traumatic hemorrhage (bleeding)
- hematoma (pooling of blood)
- post traumatic epilepsy
8
Q
shaken baby syndrome
A
- most common cause of TBI and death in children
- damage is due to rotational and accel-decel forces on the child’s brain
9
Q
military TBI
A
- improvised explosive devices (IED) creates multiple levels of trauma
- polytrauma - describes various types of trauma following IED blast
10
Q
types of polytrauma
A
- primary: over/underpressurization of air b/c of detonation device/weapons
- secondary: result from flying debris
- tertiary: result from being thrown by blast wind (seeing brain differences)
- quaternary: catch all
11
Q
PTSD
A
- symptoms overlap
- headache, dizziness, irritability, decreased concentration
- body is reacting to an event in order to process it
- causes physical changes in the body
12
Q
sports-related TBI
A
- closed head TBI experienced by athletes
- chronic trauma encephalopathy: brain looks like dementia
- concussion: 2nd hit is multiple times worse if not healed from 1st hit
13
Q
motor deficits
A
- gross and fine motor movement deficits, bilateral paresis/paralysis, or contralateral hemiplegia
- isn’t always the brain
- abnormal muscle tone
- swallowing/motor speech disorder
14
Q
cognitive deficits
A
- affect level of orientation, attention, memory
- display impulsivity, emotional lability (can’t control), lack of motivation
- coma: not responsive for more than 6 hours
- vegetative state: minimal response, lack consciousness or cognition
- persistent VS: more than 4 years
- post-traumatic amnesia: memory loss after coma/VS
15
Q
personality changes
A
- agitation, combativeness (argumentative)
- depression and anxiety
- low frustration tolerance
- impulsivity (don’t think things through)
- insensitivity to societal rules/values (who cares?)
