Brain Injury: Causes

1
Brain Injury Causes

• MVA (50)
• Violence
• Falls (1 in the elderly)

2
Facts and Figures

• A little more than 2 of the U.S. population
  currently live with disabilities from TBI
• 1 million people are treated and released from
  ERs each year with TBI
• Each year, 80,000 Americans experience the onset
  of long term disability with TBI
• Each year, 50,000 people die from TBI

3
Risk

• The risk of TBI is highest among adolescents,
  young adults, and elders 75
• 2x as many men suffer TBI compared to women

4
Types of injury

• Open
• Closed
• Focal
• Diffuse
• Coup Contrecoup

5
Left Hemisphere Function

• Rational
• Analytical
• Verbal
• Language Systems

6
Left Hemisphere Damage

• Difficulties in speaking, comprehending, reading,
  writing, arithmetic calculation, verbal
  reasoning, and verbal memory.
• May see emotionality, irritability, and an
  agitated type of depression.

7
Right Hemisphere Function

• Spatial thinking, integration of parts into
  wholes, recognition of faces, musical
  appreciation and perception, spatial memory, and
  the analysis of the emotional and inflective
  aspects of language

8
Right Hemisphere Damage

• Getting lost easily
• Inability to remember peoples faces or other
  visually-oriented material
• Inability to produce or appreciate drawings or
  musical pieces
• May see emotional blandness

9
Frontal Lobe Function

• Abstract reasoning, planning, and judgement
• Evaluation of environment and initiation of
  response
• Controls emotional response and expressive
  language
• Flexibility in thinking and behavior
• Social appropriateness

10
Frontal Lobe Damage

• Sequencing inability to plan a sequence of
  complex movements
• Loss of spontaneity
• Perseveration persistence of a single thought
• Mood changes
• Changes in social behavior or personality
• Difficulty with problem solving
• Brocas Aphasia Inability to express language

11
Parietal Lobe Function

• Visual Attention
• Appreciation of bodily sensation
• Sensory-Motor Integration
• Arithmetic
• Manipulation of objects
• Integration and interpretation of input from the
  different senses

12
Parietal Lobe Damage

• Inability to attend to more than 1 object
• Anomia inability to name an object
• Alexia problems with reading
• Difficulty drawing objects
• Poor hand-eye coordination
• Difficulty with math
• Difficulty distinguishing left from right
• Lack of awareness of certain body parts and/or
  surrounding space

13
Occipital Lobe Function

• Vision and higher-order visual processing
• Reading
• Recognition of faces

14
Occipital Lobe Damage

• Visual field cuts
• Location of objects
• Difficulty recognizing drawn objects
• Hallucinations or visual illusions
• Difficulty identifying colors
• Inability to recognize words
• Difficulties with reading and writing

15
Temporal Lobe Function

• Hearing and higher-order auditory processing
• Oral language comprehension
• Musical appreciation
• Verbal memory and visuospatial memory
• Emotional experience and expression

16
Temporal Lobe Damage

• Wernickes Aphasia Difficulty understanding
  spoken words
• Short-term memory loss and interference with
  long-term memory
• Inability to categorize objects
• Difficulty identifying and verbalizing about
  objects
• Persistent talking
• Increased aggressive behavior

17
Brain Stem Function

• Breathing
• Heart Rate
• Swallowing
• Startle Response
• Alertness and sleep
• ANS (sweating, BP, digestion, temp)
• Sense of balance

18
Brain Stem Damage

• Dysphagia swallowing food and water
• Dizziness and nausea
• Problems with balance and movement
• Sleep problems
• Decreased breathing capacity

19
Cerebellum Function

• Coordination of voluntary movement
• Balance and equilibrium
• Some memory for reflex motor acts

20
Cerebellum Damage

• Loss of ability to coordinate fine movements
• Loss of ability to walk
• Inability to reach out and grab objects
• Tremors
• Dizziness
• Slurred Speech
• Inability to make rapid movements