Brain Injuries
Brain Injuries – A blow to the head that at first seems normal and does not result in immediate pain or other symptoms may in fact turn out to be a life-threatening brain injury, experts told CNN.
According to Dr. Carmelo Graffagnino, director of Duke University Medical Center’s Neurosciences Critical Care Unit, it is very common for someone who’s had a fall or been in a car accident to appear perfectly lucid just after the impact but then to suddenly, rapidly deteriorate.
Graffangnio said “A patient can appear so deceivingly normal at first. But they actually have a brain bleed and as the pressure builds up, they’ll experience classic symptoms of a traumatic brain injury.” He also indicated that the injury cased by a fall doesn’t have to be hard, and patients can be unaware that there is a fracture because the delay in symptoms showing up can be 5 minutes to 3 hours after an accident. The brain can be bruised and the nerves surrounding the bruise can begin to stretch. He said, “The brain is like Jell-O. Imagine if you dropped a bowl of Jell-O on the floor and it looks intact at first but when you examine it really close, you can see it has teeny, tiny cracks in it. Well, the brain can have these tiny cracks that don’t show up on initial CAT scan but will develop into problems down the line.”
A patient like Natasha Richardson can seem deceivingly normal at first
Actress Natasha Richardson was talking and joking after she fell during a beginner ski lesson on Monday, said officials at the Canadian resort where she was staying. But shortly after returning to her room she complained of head pain and was taken to a nearby hospital, then to a larger medical center in Montreal.
She was later transferred to a New York hospital on Tuesday. She died on Wednesday, according to a family statement.
“You don’t have to see external injury to have injury to the brain,” said Dr Philip Stieg, chair of neurosurgery at NYP/Weill Cornell. He recommends evaluating a person’s response after a minor trauma, checking the size of their pupils and asking questions such as their name and what year it is. In the hours following, He also recommends monitoring the patient’s cognitive skills and to have them get a CAT scan” if there is a change in behavior.
