A brain injury is one of the worst injuries anyone can suffer. If you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury, you could be facing years of therapy, expensive medical treatments, and a decreased quality of life. These injuries can have wide-ranging physical and psychological effects. Some symptoms may appear immediately after the traumatic event, while others may take days or years to surface. In this article, we’ve listed a few common types of brain injuries reasons behind them.
What Causes Common Brain Injuries?
First of all, what can cause common brain injuries? Well, a variety of accidents, negligent acts, and assaults can cause brain injury, including:
Medical malpractice, including incorrect medication or dosing, mistakes during surgery, or misusing medical techniques
Traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers, distracted drivers, semi-trucks, aggressive drivers, and others
Assaults, such as domestic violence, violent crimes, and shootings
Slip-and-fall injuries
Blows to the head, and others.
Types of Brain Injuries
The main types of brain injuries include:
1. Traumatic Brain Injuries
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a disruption in the normal function of the brain that a blow or bump can cause. A jolt to the head can also cause it – it’s when the head suddenly and violently hits an object or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue.
Signs of moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries can include any of the signs and symptoms of mild injury, as well as these other symptoms that may appear within the first hours to a day after a head injury:
Loss of consciousness from several minutes to hours
Dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes
Clear fluids draining from the ears or nose
Inability to awaken from sleep
Weakness or numbness in toes and fingers
Profound confusion
Slurred speech
According to Coffey McPharlin, a renowned Fort Lauderdale brain injury attorney, several traumatic brain injury victims experience flashbacks, speech disturbances, and emotional problems that will affect them for the rest of their lives.
2. Concussion/Mild Brain Injuries
Concussion, a mild brain injury can be classified as mild if a loss of consciousness and/or state of disorientation is shorter than 30 minutes. Mild TBIs usually show normal CAT scans and MRI results, but the individual may have cognitive problems such as headaches, difficulty thinking, and mood swings. These injuries are frequently overlooked, but even “mild” TBIs can have a devastating effect on the victim and his/her family.
3. Brain Contusions
A brain contusion is a specific type of TBI that occurs when an outside force (commonly from car accidents) directly impacts the head and damages brain tissue. Contusions can also sometimes occur when the brain bleeds and forms a bruise. Contusion injuries can lead to brain herniation (when a part of the brain squeezes past the skull), or intracranial pressure which if left untreated can lead to death.
4. Coup-Contrecoup Injuries
Coup-contrecoup brain injuries occur when an object impacts the brain and affects the site of the injury and the opposing side of the brain. Also common in car accidents, these injuries involve the exterior of the skull striking another object. Then, the force of the blow causes the brain to collide with the interior of the skull, possibly resulting in two brain injuries.
The most common causes of these injuries are falls, blunt force trauma, motor vehicle accidents, and sports injuries. They usually damage the frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes of the brain.
5. Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI)
This is a common brain injury in car accidents and one of the most severe types of brain injury. Negligent acts that can cause this injury are usually motor vehicle accidents, falling on slippery surfaces, or engaging in sports after a concussion without proper recovery.
The cause is from violent forces on the brain and head, forcing brain tissue to slide back and forth until the connecting fibers (axons) tear. This disrupts the messages that neurons send, resulting in loss of function.
6. Intracranial Hematoma and Hemorrhage
An intracranial hematoma is a serious, potentially fatal injury. A hematoma is a collection of blood caused by a break in blood vessel walls. A hemorrhage is defined as the leaking of blood from the vessel wall.
A sudden blow to the head can cause the brain to slide against the skull and bruise. The rupture of blood vessels between the skull and brain is known as an intracranial hematoma. CT scans usually detect these, but bleeding may not occur immediately.
7. Vegetative State or Brain Death
Moderate to severe brain injury can result in prolonged or permanent changes in a person’s state of consciousness and responsiveness. Different states of consciousness include:
Coma: A person in a coma is unconscious of anything and unable to respond to stimuli. This results in widespread damage to every part of the brain.
Vegetative state: Widespread damage to the brain can result in a vegetative state. The person is unaware of their surroundings but may open his or her eyes, make sounds, respond to reflexes, or more.
Brain death: When there is no measurable activity in the brain. In a person who has been declared brain dead, technology is depended on to keep the body alive.
8. Brain Penetration
An object that penetrates the skull and brain can lead to severe bleeding, a lack of oxygen, severe brain damage, and death. Penetration injuries are easy to identify: any blood oozing from the head can indicate the brain has been penetrated. Other symptoms include heavy blood loss, exhaustion, and difficulty breathing.
If you’re in a car accident and one of your companions has suffered a brain penetration injury, do not try to remove the object lodged in the skull. Removing the object can worsen the bleeding or damage the brain further, so it should be left to trained medical professionals.
9. Secondary Brain Injury
Also called acquired brain injuries, these are injuries that aren’t caused directly by the trauma of the accident. Secondary brain injuries can be caused by blood loss, lung or rib damage, throat or chest complications, and more, including;
Aneurysm
Carbon monoxide poisoning, lead poisoning, and exposure to other neurotoxins
Drug overdose
Electric shock
Encephalitis
Infectious disease
Meningitis
Metabolic disorders
A prolonged period with insufficient oxygen, for example, while drowning, choking, or due to smoke inhalation
Seizures
Stroke
Tumors
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10. Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA)
Also known as a “stroke” by much of the population, a stroke occurs when an artery that supplies blood to the brain becomes blocked (ischemic stroke) or when the artery ruptures and waterlogs brain tissue (hemorrhagic stroke). In either case, part of the brain stops receiving oxygen and nutrients, so it dies irreversibly. In every minute of a standard stroke, 1.9 million neurons, 14 billion synapses, and 12 kilometers of myelinated fibers are destroyed.