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Traumatic Brain Injury

e validity of selected outcome measures.

TBI can happen at any time to virtually anyone. A traumatic brain injury occurs when the brain has undergone a sudden injury from incidents such as strokes, gunshot wounds, physical assaults, sports, automobile or motorcycle accidents, falls, or other traumas (Czubaj, 1996). TBI is often not diagnosed immediately and more often the symptoms of TBI are overlooked in the aftermath of the injury. The nerve cell damage occurring as a consequence of TBI can be widespread and microscopic and cannot appear on diagnostic radiographic imageries or on neurological testing. Further, according to Czubaj (1996), an individual who has experienced TBI could have his or her intelligence still measured as average or above average while their cognitive abilities are damaged.

Ghajar (2000) reported that research in critical care has led to a dramatic improvement in the prognosis of patients with brain injuries. However, in the United States, about 1.6 people each year sustain TBI. Of this population, 800,000 receive early outpatient care while some 270,000 require hospital admission. Each year, approximately 52,000 deaths and 80,000 permanent, severe neurological disabilities result from severe TBI. The financial burden is enormous and Ghajar (2000) points out that worldwide, injury of this sort is the cause of the largest number of disability-adjusted life years lost, which includes years lost to death and varying degrees of disability.

Equally significant is the fact that neurological damage does not all occur immediately at the moment of impact or primary injury but evolves afterwards as a secondary injury (Ghajar, 2000). Most secondary brain injury is caused by brain swelling, with an increase in intracranial pressure and then a subsequent decrease in cerebral perfusion leading to ischaemia. Ghajar (2000) identified the progress of secondary injury following TBI as occurring within ho...

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Traumatic Brain Injury. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 22:13, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1688822.html