Brain Trauma

Published on: August 3, 2012

The whole method of determining consciousness is changed when it comes to infants and young children,

by Stephen Bilkis

The whole method of determining consciousness is changed when it comes to infants and young children, doctors have discovered. Often, the severity of a head impact is overestimated, but it’s much more common for the reverse to be true. When an infant cries because of a head impact, it is thought to indicate full consciousness, when in fact serious brain damage may have occurred.

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) uses verbal and motor responses to assess consciousness, which is not possible for preverbal infants. Even after they learn to speak, a frightened but fully conscious child might not be able to fully aid in assessing his or her own state of mind. Doctors in The Bronx are well-aware of attempts to devise a scale that operates for children who are five years of age or less, so their needs can be better served.

Pediatricians and neurological nurses have studied these preverbal responses and are of great help in devising a scale that can assist in the treatment of small children. One such scale includes social, adaptive, vocal and motor responses, and even suck/cough responses, either spontaneous or induced by stimulus. Each of these was given a score from 0 to 4. Another scale was based off the Glasgow scale for eye opening and motor responses, but it had different criteria for the verbal portion, including such things as smiling, eye orientation, consolability, and interaction.

Published on: July 23, 2012

The clinical assessment of head injury severity is commonly based on what is known as the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)

by Stephen Bilkis

The clinical assessment of head injury severity is commonly based on what is known as the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) according to doctors. A score of 3-8 means severe injury, 9-12 is a moderate brain injury, while 13-15 is mild head injury, based upon examination six hours after injury. The score is obtained by observing the patient’s impairment in speech, motor function, and eye movement. It does not, however, show what might have caused the impairment. Patients with the same GCS score may well have completely different causes for it, which means completely different treatment is necessary. Fatalities may even occur in patients who are not treated properly, even those with GCS scores above 9.

The damage to the brain is often vascular, studies have learned. The contusion index rates these injuries, giving them numerical values according to surface extend and depth. Another means to assess vascular injury is the hemorrhagic lesion score. This measures, in Westchester and Brooklyn, the total vascular damage in a traumatized brain by mapping macroscopic and microscopic evidence of bleeding on a diagram of sections of the brain, which are further divided into sectors.

Cell damage is a bit harder to quantify. The distribution and extent of such damage is not uniform or symmetrical, so systematic microscopic study of the brain is required to properly assess it. It has often been divided into three grades of severity, depending upon a number of criteria determined by examining both macroscopic and microscopic lesions.

Published on: July 16, 2012

Blast TBI (traumatic brain injury) happens to many combatants, according to New York Brain Injury Lawyers

by Stephen Bilkis

Blast TBI (traumatic brain injury) happens to many combatants, according to doctors. It can rightfully be considered a new class of TBI. While it might share a lot of features with standard TBI, it has some unique aspects that are all its own.

The milder forms of TBI can be very similar to PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), but it also has distinct aspects of its own. The military currently uses civilian standards of care for TBI when it comes to bTBI (explosive blast TBI), but they are constantly revising their standards to better provide for those injured on the field, according to experts. The theater of war requires different standards of medical practice.

It is apparent that there need to be more studies done on the precise effects of bTBI, both scientifically and clinically. The research will have to be focused upon how explosive blasts can lead to TBI. It is also important to learn how prevalent this disease is, and the exact causes. Once the research reaches a certain level, it will become much easier to diagnose and treat bTBI. A clinical definition of bTBI should quickly create the means to treat bTBI.

Published on: June 26, 2012

There are primary and secondary injury mechanisms when it comes to trauma

by Stephen Bilkis

No one is certain what really causes primary explosive blast traumatic brain injury (bTBI), according to doctors. Clearly, the “cause” is the explosion and the mechanism by which it works is the interaction of explosive force upon the human body, but this does not medically explain everything that occurs.

There are primary and secondary injury mechanisms when it comes to trauma. Primary injury mechanisms can be attributed directly to the cause of the injury, like laceration from a cut. Secondary injuries are physiological responses, like bleeding or bruising. When it comes to bTBI, doctors have learned, there is probably more than one primary injury mechanism involved. Hospitals in the Bronx and Brooklyn are studying this.

The blast produced by an explosive device travels through a medium like air or water in a wave of pressure. Basically, a great deal of energy is chemically produced. Mechanical, thermal, and electromagnetic energy is transferred into the surrounding medium, and into anyone who happens to be in the blast radius.

Published on: June 17, 2012

Brain Injury Patients Testing New Treatments

by Stephen Bilkis

A new approach to treating brain injury patients is being tested by local military doctors.

A nationwide study is underway to see if the drug progesterone can help save lives and reduce disability in sufferers of head trauma.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are the signature wounds of modern wars. But damage to the brain caused by an outside blow to the head also affects thousands of civilians each year, too, primarily in falls and car accidents.

Published on: June 11, 2012

About the injuries in the army, details a New York Brain Injury Lawyer

by Stephen Bilkis

A doctor unfolds the report given by many National Guard and Reserved soldiers who were injured in war and felt snubbed by the Army compared to enlisted soldiers. According to the soldiers, they felt as if they were being asked to keep their mouths shuts with the treatment that they receive after returning from war with their brain injuries.

“Many of these National Guard and Reserved soldiers don’t feel as if they are getting fair treatment by the U.S. Army and want their voices to be heard. These soldiers go through a lot of trauma in war and still have to come back home to face the truth that the injuries sustained in war is their responsibility” explained one soldier to a Lawyer.

The soldier’s stories of post traumatic disorder and brain injury reached the ears of the Oregon Congressional delegation that stepped in and demanded that a full investigation be done. The source also feels that someone needed to get to the bottom of this. These soldiers provided a life threatening service to their country and the least that the U.S. Army can do is to provide medical care for these soldiers whether they are enlisted or not.

Published on: June 8, 2012

Thanks to CT scanning, there is a fast and non-invasive way to study brain injury

by Stephen Bilkis

Thanks to CT scanning, there is a fast and non-invasive way to study brain injury, according to doctors. It is an essential part of any trauma management system. CT scanners are becoming more prevalent at medical care facilities, and often connected into central trauma centers. Diagnoses are faster as are treatments of brain injuries. This has also led to better planning and retrieval and better admission practices for patients with severe head injury or skull fracture.

There is a great deal that remains unknown about brain injury and the effects of it, especially what causes secondary brain damage long after the primary injury has occurred. Doctors and other medical professionals are focused upon finding accurate and continuous monitoring techniques, especially for the first few days after injury. This is also of importance to New York Brain Injury Lawyers. Current techniques are not ideal, but academic head injury centers are constantly researching new methods.

There are basically three reasons to monitor the injured brain, New York Brain Injury Lawyers have learned: to detect harmful events before they cause irreversible brain damage; to allow these harmful events to be diagnosed so they might be effectively treated; to provide feedback for therapy to help those who have already suffered such injuries. These methods should also be relatively cost-effective, and non-invasive.

Published on: May 26, 2012

Coalition Developed to Explore TBI Treatment on the Scene of Accidents

by Stephen Bilkis

Approximately 1.4 million Americans will suffer a brain injurythis year. An unprecedented collaboration of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) first responders, state health officials and university researchers will hopefully help save Arizona residents who are among that number who could suffer brain injury in the coming year.

Groundbreaking studies and life-saving developments are melding into a series of pre-hospital treatments for traumatic brain injury (TBI). These treatments, as studies suggest, are to be administered immediately at the scene of the accident.

Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona fire departments, ambulance companies, Arizona Emergency Medicine Research Center and the University of Medicine, announced their collaboration during an extraction demonstration by Glendale Fire Department.

Published on: May 18, 2012

Sometimes the extent of moderate or severe damage caused by bTBI (explosive blast traumatic brain injury) is difficult to determine at first

by Stephen Bilkis

Sometimes the extent of moderate or severe damage caused by bTBI (explosive blast traumatic brain injury) is difficult to determine at first, doctors have told sources. Severe facial trauma can prevent reliable neurological examination, especially when it comes to examining the pupils for reaction. Specialized tools are often necessary to even make triage decisions that could save lives.

The chaos of war only compounds the difficulty in making decisions when it comes to severe injury. When a doctor or other medical professional is used to medical centers in the United States, where there are adequate resources and help in the form of other professionals near at hand, it can be very difficult to work on a battlefield where everything is in short supply, but the number of patients is much greater.

Difficult decisions have to be made in such environments. It isn’t uncommon for a great number of severely injured patients to arrive at the same time. Efficient triage is essential for the best use of limited resources. There may be few health care providers, no operating rooms or CT scanners, and not many blood products to go around. It may even be impossible to evacuate patients to a better facility. The whole idea behind triage is take resources that may not be adequate and stretch them out to their best possible use to help the largest number of patients. They must be stabilized and their lives preserved until they can be evacuated into a better circumstance. Hospitals in Long Island and Manhattan are watching this situation.

Published on: May 13, 2012

The ongoing Global War on Terror has resulted in an increase of traumatic brain injury, or TBI

by Stephen Bilkis

The ongoing Global War on Terror has resulted in an increase of traumatic brain injury, or TBI, doctors have noted. A number of them suffer from an explosive blast (bTBI). Physicians have decided this type of injury is distinct from other forms of brain trauma, such as penetrating TBI (pTBI) and closed head TBI (cTBI).

Explosive blast causes more than 60% of combat casualties in the two current major American campaigns, Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to studies. The main source of danger are the much talked-about IEDs – improvised explosive devices. The head is often injured in battle, accounting for 20% of all combat-related injuries in modern wars. When it comes to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the data is still coming in. So far, the data seems to closely match that of previous wars.

Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom are distinct from 20th century wars in the higher survival rate of those who are injured in combat, even those who suffer from TBI, according to studies. An important factor to be considered is the use of body armor. Doctors in Nassau and Suffolk used to believe that the severity of bTBI was due to pTBI from fragments of the explosive device or cTBI from the head striking an object after the victim was thrown.