Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injuries are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Common causes includes falls, road traffic accidents and falling objects. Pathophysiology Traumatic brain injuries can result from a variety of mechanisms of injuries including direct impact, penetration injuries, acceleration/deacceleration injuries, or bast waves. This results in primary injury to the brain and cranium with secondary injuries occuring later through inflammatory changes in the tissues, cell death and ischaemia from vascular injury, hypoxia, vasospasm and microocculusions. Primary injuries may include: Diffuse axonal injuries - caused by shearing of axons/white matter presenting with low GCS and associated with poor outcome. Focal cerebral contusions - caused by direct impact of brain tissue on skull wall commonly seen in acceleration/deacceleration injuries. Most commonly seen in frontal and temporal areas and may be associated with intraparenchymal haematomas.