Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) Treatment
India is the World’s second most popular country in facing the emergence of a hidden occurrence of neurological disability diseases.
Neurological disability is likely to join these public health concerns as a sudden, widespread occurrence of an undesirable phenomenon. Due to 3 emerging health trends:
- An increase in traumatic brain injuries (TBI) from road traffic accidents (RTA)
- An increase in the incidence of age-related dementia
- An increase in the stroke incidence.
Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been one of the major causes of death. In India, the incidence of head injury is steadily increasing with urbanization and an increasing vehicular population. Among the road traffic accidents, 70% have a head injury, among road accident deaths 70% are due to head injury. Most deaths occur during the first 72 hours.
What is a Head Injury?
A head injury is any sort of injury to your brain, skull, or scalp. This can range from a mild bump or bruise to a traumatic brain injury. Common head injuries include concussions, skull fractures, and scalp wounds. The consequences and treatments vary, depending on what caused your head injury and how severe it is.
Head injuries may be closed or open. A closed head injury is any injury that doesn’t break your skull. An open, or penetrating, head injury is one in which something breaks your skull and enters your brain.
It’s hard to assess how serious a head injury is just by looking. Some minor head injuries bleed a lot, while some major injuries don’t bleed at all. It’s important to treat all head injuries seriously and get them assessed by a doctor.
Head injuries caused by a blow to the head are usually associated with:
- Motor vehicle accidents
- Pedestrian and Bicycling Accidents
- Slips, Trips, and falls
- Being hit by a blunt of a falling object
- Assault and battery
- Domestic violence and child abuse
In most cases, your skull will protect your brain from serious harm.
Symptoms
Your head has more blood vessels than any other part of your body, so bleeding on the surface of your brain or within your brain is a serious concern in head injuries. Many symptoms of serious brain injury won’t appear right away. You should always continue to monitor your symptoms for several days after you injure your head.
Common symptoms of a minor head injury include:
- Headache
- A spinning sensation
- Mild confusion
- Nausea
- Temporary ringing in the ears
- A loss of consciousness
- Seizures
- Vomiting
- Balance or coordination problems
- Serious disorientation
- An inability to focus the eyes
- Abnormal eye movements
- A loss of muscle control
- Memory loss
- Changes in mood
Medication
If you have suffered a severe brain injury, you may be given anti-seizure medication. You’re at risk for seizures in the week following your accident.
If your injury is very serious, you may be given medication to put you in an induced coma. This may be an appropriate treatment if your blood vessels are damaged. When you’re in a coma, your brain doesn’t need as much oxygen and nutrients as it normally does.
Surgery
It may be necessary to do emergency surgery to prevent further damage to your brain. For example, your doctors may need to operate to remove a hematoma, repair your skull, or release some of the pressure in your skull.
Rehabilitation
If you’ve suffered a serious brain injury, you’ll most likely need rehabilitation to regain full brain function. The type of rehabilitation you get will depend on what functionality you have lost as a result of your injury. People who have suffered a brain injury will often need help regaining mobility and speech.
