Brain Injury

In the United States Brain Injury is one of the leading causes of death. The leading causes of Brain Injury are falls, sporting injuries and motor accidents. Along with the standard symptoms of loss cognitive ability, personality change and headaches there are additional injuries and symptoms that are less well known that are suffered by those who have had a head injury. This can include loss of vision, hearing, smell or taste.

A head injury that involves damage to the brain can be described by the terms concussion, contusion or laceration. A concussion is a form of Brain Injury characterized by an abrupt but temporary loss of consciousness. It may be accompanied by problems with vision and balance. It is most commonly caused by a knock to the head or a sudden stopping of the movement in the head (for example in a car accident). Signs include nausea, vomiting, headaches, memory loss and loss of concentration.

Another form of Brain Injury is a contusion. A contusion occurs when there is bruising of the brain usually accompanied by leaking of tiny blood vessels in the brain. This form of Brain Injury will result in immediate loss of consciousness, decreased blood pressure, loss of reflexes and transient loss of respiration. All vital signs will typically stabilize within seconds and loss of consciousness with this type of Brain Injury should last no more than 5 minutes.

A laceration is a tear in the brain. This is the most serious form of injury to the head. This usually occurs because of a skull fracture or gunshot wound. A skull fracture can occur due to falling from a great height, a car accident, a heavy machinery accident, a sports injury or a workplace injury.

A laceration will rupture the large blood vessels in the brain. This can cause pooling of clotted blood that can swell up and put pressure on the brain tissue. Small blood clots may be absorbed however large blood clots have to be surgically removed. This type of Brain Injury is the most dangerous. If the swelling is severe and continuous it may result in death.