Traumatic Brain Injury Analysis

After nearly 15 years of continuous military intervention and direct combat action, soldiers returning from overseas deployments have increasingly experienced blast related traumatic brain injuries (blast induced traumatic brain injury). The asymmetrical nature of modern warfare coupled with a large insurgency has led to a shift in the class of combat casualties which occur on the contemporary battlefield. The large number of improvised explosive devises encountered by American troops has produced a dramatic rise in the number of blast related blast induced traumatic brain injury victims returning from the battlefield. During the war in Iraq nearly half of the combat injuries experienced resulted from neurotrauma related to blast exposure (Dries, 2012). Blast induced traumatic brain injury can manifest symptoms through a myriad of physical, psychological, and cognitive deficiencies due to the pathoanotomical and

After the long and physically demanding battles of World War Two, many soldiers returned to the United States of America battling injuries many physicians did not know how to acknowledge at the time. But, as many soldiers were able to return to their families, even with a brain injury, many soldiers lost their lives to brain injuries. Two researchers who conducted one of the largest studies on base camps about the extent of brain injuries and how it affected soldiers was Sekulovic and Ceramilac, these researchers were able to “summaries autopsies of 499 deaths occurring within 30 days of traumatic brain injury.”1 Sekulovic and Ceramilac were able to find “that 78% of the deaths were due to injury to brain stem, brain edema or brain compression.”1 While Sekulovic and Ceramilac were able to determine the percentage of which were affected by brain injuries during World War Two, many researchers were hoping to acknowledge the dynamic longer term possibilities. According to Dr. Ian J. Baguley, “patients who had been released from the hospital into rehabilitation facilities”1 were considered long term for brain injuries. Where as Dr. Robert M. Shavelle found that patients coming from war can be classified as long term as long as the effects lasted “one year or longer post injury.”1 Many studies by various researchers were also able to discover that “even in long-term, death rates from many different causes are elevated for persons with [traumatic brain injury] by comparison with

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in the military are a tangible threat to the men and women of the United States military. Operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a spotlight on this injury, as the “signature injury”. Specific criteria makeup the definition of a TBI, which is certain symptoms and severity levels of those symptoms. Due to the capacity of this injury, the Department of Defense (DoD) and Congress have created mandates, along with treatment methods, and the ability to achieve an end goal of aiding an individual’s complete recovery.

One of the original and most influential neuropsychological test batteries for athletes is the testing program developed for the NFL (Pellman, Lovell, Viano, Casson, & Tucker, 2004). The battery includes six abridged neuropsychological tests and takes approximately 30 minutes to administer. The first of these is the Revised Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT-R), which assesses verbal learning via three immediate word recall trials, verbal memory via a delayed recall task, and recognition via a yes/no task (Allen & Gfeller, 2011). The next subtest is the Revised Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT-R) which assesses visual memory via three image recall trials, a delayed recall task and a recognition task (Allen & Gfeller, 2011). The third subtest used in the NFL test battery is the Trail Making Test (TMT), which requires the accurate completion of a number of tasks using spatial scanning, speed and cognitive flexibility skills. Score is determined by the the time taken to complete the test and the number of errors made (Allen & Gfeller, 2011). The fourth subtest is the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT). The COWAT assesses verbal fluency via three trials of word naming, in which 60 seconds are provided to generate as many words as possible with a given letter of the alphabet. Scores are norm-referenced according to gender, education and age (Allen & Gfeller,

The characteristics of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Jesse displays are inattention, memory and speech. Jesse is also demonstrating his desire for isolation from his friends. He prefers to be alone most of the time, which is out of character for Jesse.

Traumatic brain injuries have become an epidemic, affecting both children and adults. The effects of these brain injuries are severe however; they do differ in severity from youth to adult age in areas such as: cognitive and speech function, physical ability, fatigue, and headaches. America has been recognizing the severity of these injuries and sports and medicine have increased funding to prevent them. In order to properly decide what treatment is best for adults or youth suffering traumatic brain injuries one must conclude the differences between adult and youth symptoms, this proves challenging because the amount of adults suffering traumatic brain injuries is much fewer than adolescents. Another challenge faced when attempting to record and prevent these injuries is the lack of knowledge of symptoms; youth often misinterpret concussion symptoms and believe they have learning disabilities such as ADD and ADHD.

Extensive research offers hope for the growing numbers of people suffering from traumatic brain injuries that often leave victims unable to return to their previous lifestyle and sometimes require long-term care. Traumatic brain injuries are quite common from car accidents, a blow to the head, sports accidents, and in military veterans. These injuries have a long term effect that changes lives of many individuals. Some brain injuries, even have the power to change the way one speaks and complete simple everyday tasks which restrict one to be independent.

Within the US Special Forces one of the most prevalently seen injuries sustained in combat is a traumatic brain injury (TBI). This injury is frequently sustained after an improvised explosive device (IED) has detonated on a soldier and/or his vehicle. According to an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a traumatic brain injury is a “physiologically significant disruption of brain function resulting from the application of external physical force, including acceleration/deceleration forces” (Silver, McAllister, & Arciniegas, 2009). This is obviously a concern in regards to trauma to the brain; however, it is the long-term damage and incidents of neuropsychiatric sequelae that are most alarming. Neuropsychiatric sequelae, a term used

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is estimated to affect 1.6-3.8 million annually in the United States (Langlois, Rutland-Brown, & Wald, 2006). The incidence of traumatic brain injury in military personnel has increased since the military operation began in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2001, and while the exact number of cases is unknown, it has been estimated to be as high as 18% (Hoge, McGurk, Thomas, Cox, Engle, & Castro, 2008). There has been a growing concern for for the ramifications of traumatic brain injury, especially as a result of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) is the most common type of TBI in civilians and Iraq/Afghanistan veterans and soldiers (Carlson, Kehle, Meis, Greer, MacDonald, Rutks, Sayer, Dobscha, & Wilt, 2011). Operationally defined, mTBI in military settings is an injury to the brain as a result of an external force like a blast, fall, impact, or vehicle accident which changes the mental state with a presentation of symptoms such as headaches, nausea, vomiting, dizziness/balance problems, fatigue, insomnia/sleep disturbances, drowsiness, sensitivity to light/ noise, blurred vision, difficulty remembering, and/or

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is be described as a mental health condition that's triggered by a trauma experienced that is very severe. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are signature injuries of the wars that have been fought in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade. There is still much to learn about the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and short- and long-term prognosis associated with each of these conditions. To improve the diagnosis and treatment of TBI and PTSD in the military, it is necessary to study individuals with a full range of symptom severity.

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) consist of pathological intracranial features of alteration in brain function cause by an outside force. TBI’s have plagued emergency rooms in recent years. TBI’s are the number one cause for death and disability in American youth and young adults. The drastic increase in TBI prognosis has been credited to reasons such as; increased competitiveness in sports, increased speeds of automobiles and/or speed limits, increased incidence of thrill seekers, as well as increased sensitivity of medical imaging modalities. The development of certain imaging protocols has made diagnosis of TBI’s more common. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has paved the way in the imaging and identify process of TBI’s. There are different levels of severity in TBI’s and the diagnostic imaging and the associated application of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is crucial. The GCS is a point scale in which a clinician can rate the severity of a brain injury and use a numeric value to objectively track progress or decline in the patient’s health. In some cases, the TBI may inflict secondary vascular trauma in which the GCS may assist in detecting.

What do we really know about concussions? Let's think about this, concussions are caused when there is either an acceleration that transpires when the head is at rest and jerked into motion or deceleration when the head in motion but stop abruptly. Examples of this is a severe blow to the head and the result of that sudden movement causing the brain to become short- circuit which result in a traumatic brain injury (Drysdale,2013). This affects players in physical sports like football, hockey or boxing. In this paper I will show that brain injuries play a role in NFL player and our youth which are some of the main causes of delayed cognitive and mental issues that affect them throughout their lifetime even though they no longer play the

parindent{ }Traumatic brain injury is a significant health problem in the United States that is estimated to occur in 1.6-1.8 million persons annually (citealt{faul2010}). Diffuse axonal injury is %the most frequently occurring

parindent{ }Traumatic brain injury is a significant health problem in the United States that is estimated to occur in 1.6-1.8 million persons annually (citealt{faul2010}). Diffuse axonal injury is a common type of traumatic brain injury primarily characterized by damage to the axons (citealt{smith2000, Gennarelli1982}). An enhanced knowledge of the pathophysiology of diffuse axonal injury is required to develop improved diagnostic tools, protective measures and rehabilitation treatments(citealt{Giordano2014}). Many techniques have been developed to help elucidate the injury mechanism associated with diffuse axonal injury over the years. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is one such technique where the mesoscale structural information is studied to investigate the diffuse axonal injury. Finite element models have also provided a means to investigate diffuse axonal injury.

While most of the authors agreed that there is a correlation between Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and suicidal death among veterans there is no general consensus on what is the best holistic approach to treating TBI despite progress made in this regards. According to (Ryan et. al, 2011) “treatment of active symptoms is currently the recommended practice” among physicians while Sahni et. al, suggested that restoring perfusion and limiting inflammatory and oxidative damage to the brain should be the standard treatment.