A traumatic brain injury, or TBI, happens when brain tissue gets damaged from an impact to the head, such as a vehicle crash in Hardin County. Two types of injuries may result: closed head injury or open head injury.
Closed head injuries and open head injuries
A closed head injury commonly forces the head to move back and forward or side to side and causing the brain to contact the skull, such as the head hitting a windshield. It causes multifocal injury to the brain tissue, neural axons and blood vessels.
The frontal and temporal lobes often get injured the most, and the injuries usually get detected by MRI or CAT scans. If the neural axons, the thread-like nerve cells that connect brain and body parts, get stretched, then it could impact body functioning.
An open head injury tends to penetrate the skull, such as a bullet. The injuries in these cases are usually focal, or from direct impact. The injuries may be as severe or more severe than a closed head injury.
Effects of TBI
A person may experience biochemical and physiological reactions following a TBI. These actions cause further damage to the brain, which often results in secondary cell death. Short-term or long-term loss of consciousness, such as comas, may also occur.
When a trauma victim awakens, they may show irritability, aggression or post-traumatic amnesia. PTA means the victim can’t recall details of the incident for a time period. Over time, the body responses come back, but brain cells typically cannot heal themselves.
Injury severity
The severity of a coma is measured based on the Glasgow Coma Scale. The GCS grades comas based on eye opening response, motor reactions and verbal reaction. There are three levels of injuries: mild, moderate and severe. A loss of consciousness for 20 minutes commonly gets classified as mild and rated 13 to 15 on the GCS. Moderate injury ranks from 9 to 12 while severe injuries rank 3 to 8 on the scale.
TBIs can impact a person’s daily life as well as cause debt. If a person feels that another party could be responsible, a personal injury lawyer may be able to assist them in pursuing compensation.