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xxxxxTraumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can result from physical trauma to the fragile tissues of the brain, chemical disruption, or damage to nerve cells from loss of oxygen. TBI is considered to be an “acquired” injury after birth.
Common causes of TBI:
l Vehicle or bicycle accidents, falls, sports injuries, strokes, and aneurysms.
l Diseases of the central nervous system (e.g., meningitis, encephalitis, Lyme Disease).
l Seizure disorder, brain tumors and their treatment (surgery, chemotherapy).
l Drowning or oxygen deprivation.
l Exposure to or ingestion of toxic chemicals.
l Missile wound to the head and blast related (polytrauma) injury from combat.
Severity of TBI:
l The severity of brain injury (i.e. mild, moderate, severe) is often gauged by the length of coma,
l and memory loss prior to (retrograde amnesia) and following the injury (anterograde amnesia).
l Even a concussion can cause minor, permanent brain injury.
l TBI can be present even in the absence of coma or damage visualized in radiography
l images (i.e. CT scan, MRI). Diffuse axonal damage causing twisting and tearing of
l nerve connections affects nerve cell transmission in the brain, but is often not visible.