What can a brain contusion lead to? The consequences that arose several years later will be presented below. We will also tell you what degrees of this trauma exist and what symptoms they are characterized by.
Basic information
A brain injury, the consequences of which are indicated below, is a traumatic damage to the structures of the said organ, which is formed during the application of mechanical force. According to experts, as a result of a bruise, absolutely any part of the brain can be affected, but most often such damage occurs at the poles of the frontal and lower basal parts of the temporal lobes.
Symptoms of such an injury are formed from a combination of autonomic, cerebral and focal signs. Their durability and severity depends on the strength of the impact.
How can a brain injury end? The consequences after receiving such an injury most often do not occur, and also do not appear. However, in some cases, traumatic damage to brain structures can make a person disabled.
Thus, it can be safely noted that brain contusion is a type of skull and brain injury in which their main tissues are damaged, that is, some foci of gray matter destruction are formed. Moreover, the said organ is destroyed irreversibly.
Development reasons
About what consequences after a brain injury occur, we will describe below.
It should be noted that damage to brain structures can occur with any injury. However, most often such a pathology is formed due to a car accident or a banal fall from a great height.
How is it formed?
How is a brain contusion formed (the consequences of an injury can be so serious that an injured person can remain disabled for life)? In the place of influence of mechanical force, an impact zone arises where pressure rises. It is in this area that primary damage to the structures of nerve cells, as well as blood vessels, is formed. In this case, in the opposite side there is a shock zone, which is characterized by reduced pressure. By the way, in this area the defeat can be more extensive than at the place of application of force.
After a bruise in the brain, the processes of swelling of the brain tissue and its edema develop, as well as the processes of blood supply. This significantly worsens the condition of the patient and requires immediate medical attention.
Types of injury
In modern medicine, the injury in question is divided into 3 degrees:
- Bruising of the brain of a mild degree (the consequences are not so significant).
- Bruising of an average degree (lesions can cause consequences, but not always).
- A severe contusion of the brain (consequences can be dire).
All of these forms have their own clinical features, and are also characterized by a different prognosis. Let's consider them in more detail.
Mild brain injury: consequences of injury
Such a bruise has the best prognosis for recovery and does not pose a threat to the patient's life. It is characterized by:
- Loss of consciousness, lethargy, drowsiness, delayed reaction, memory loss.
- Vomiting, dizziness, changes in the work of the heart.
- Increased blood pressure, a slight increase in temperature, nausea.
- Neurological symptoms (non-severe nystagmus, trembling of the eyeballs, anisocoria, lack of pupil response to light, decreased muscle tone, anisoreflexia).
- Meningeal symptoms (neck muscle tension, Brudzinsky and Kernig symptoms).
The duration of these symptoms usually does not exceed 3 weeks. Moreover, the forecast for recovery is favorable. However, it can be very difficult for specialists to distinguish a mild brain injury from a concussion. There are no serious consequences with such an injury.
Moderate injury
Such an injury is characterized by more severe damage to brain tissue. It is almost always combined with a skull fracture, resulting in subarachnoid hemorrhage. The main symptoms of a brain injury of this degree are:
- Underestimation of the severity of one's own condition, loss of consciousness for 1-3 hours, episodes of psychomotor agitation.
- Amnesia (retrograde, congrad, anterograde).
- Severe headaches, severe dizziness.
- Repeated vomiting, palpitations, increased blood pressure, increased breathing, nausea, fever.
- Rough focal neurological symptoms (changes in muscle tone, paresis, loss of sensation in the limbs, pathological wrist and foot symptoms, strabismus, facial contortion, spontaneous nystagmus, epileptic seizures, speech impairment).
- Meningeal symptoms.
Symptoms of such a bruise persist from several weeks to two months. Over time, neurological symptoms gradually disappear. However, a number of changes that occurred immediately after injury may be irreversible.
Symptoms and consequences of severe brain contusion
Severe traumatic brain injury poses a serious threat to the patient's life. According to statistics, about 35-50% of all cases of such brain injuries result in death. Patients who have suffered a similar injury recover for a very long time (more than one month). Unfortunately, this process is far from always complete.
An injury of this severity is recognized by the following symptoms:
- Loss of consciousness. In this case, a coma can be observed, upon exiting from which the patient has a very long time retained altered consciousness as a stun or stupor.
- Psychomotor agitation, which turns into a convulsive syndrome.
- Hyperthermia up to 41 degrees, which may be accompanied by the occurrence of seizures.
- Severe disturbances in the circulatory and respiratory system. In this case, the frequency and rhythm of breathing is disturbed so much that it can cause mechanical ventilation.
- Neurological symptoms. There are stem symptoms that indicate damage to the underlying structures of the brain. In this case, the patient's pupils narrow or dilate, the eyes and eyes show a weak reaction to the horizontal or vertical divergence of the visual organs, floating eyeballs, swallowing disorders, gross nystagmus, depression of all reflexes and other pathological symptoms. After a few days, symptoms of damage to other areas of the brain also manifest themselves. These include severe paralysis, loss of speech, lack of sensitivity in the limbs.
- Meningeal signs of a pronounced nature.
The consequences of such an injury are very serious. However, most neurological symptoms are extremely slowly reversed. It may take six months or more to recover a patient. Often gross motor and mental disorders persist for a long time, and in some cases cause disability.
The main consequences of a brain injury
What could be a brain injury? The consequences of such an injury directly depend on the strength of the blow received. With a mild bruise, severe complications are almost never observed.
Medium brain injuries may also not affect the future fate of the patient. This is especially true in cases where a fracture of the skull does not occur simultaneously with subarachnoid hemorrhage. However, it should be noted that for a favorable outcome, the victim requires full-fledged therapy.
In some cases, such an injury does not pass without a trace. Its consequences can be post-traumatic hydrocephalus, post-traumatic arachnoiditis, post-traumatic epilepsy and encephalopathy, as well as vegetative-vascular dystonia syndrome.
As for severe brain contusion, it has the worst prognosis. Approximately 30-50% of such injuries result in death.
The most serious consequences
When a severe brain injury occurs, the following complications are quite high among surviving people:
- inflammation (post-traumatic) of the meninges (leptomeningitis, arachnoiditis, pachymeningitis);
- epilepsy;
- atrophy (post-traumatic) of the brain, that is, a decrease in the volume of brain tissue;
- scars in the area of the meninges and brain tissue;
- hydrocephalus with intracranial hypertension;
- liquor cysts;
- Porencephaly post-traumatic;
- cerebrospinal fluid in the presence of a fracture of the skull.
All of these conditions are manifested by motor disorders that impede movement and self-care, as well as impaired coordination, speech, mental disorders, frequent headaches, decreased intelligence, convulsive seizures and dizziness. In such cases, patients are assigned a disability group, as they lose all capacity for work.
Diagnosis, treatment
In addition to the clinical examination, as well as the circumstances of the injury, CT plays an important role in the diagnosis. During this study, specialists are able to detect the slightest changes in the brain, as well as to differentiate its bruises and concussions, to identify the severity, to determine fractures of the skull and subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Treatment of such an injury should be carried out only in a hospital setting. Most often, with such a brain lesion, conservative therapy is used. Although sometimes the patient may need surgical intervention. The main criterion that determines the volume of medical care is the severity of the injury.