Depictions of head-injury patients in movies and television
almost always show the patient experiencing some type of
amnesia, or memory loss. Indeed, memory loss is the most
common cognitive side effect of a severe traumatic brain
injury. In patients with a milder TBI, memory loss is still
one of the most common symptoms. And the more severe the
patient's memory loss is, the more severe the brain damage
is likely to be.
Temporary Memory Loss and TBI
Some traumatic brain injury-related amnesia is temporary;
such patients are usually unable to recall what happened
directly before, during and after their accidents. This is
often caused by edema, or a swelling of the brain in
response to the damage it sustained. Because the brain is
pressed against the skull, parts that were not injured are
still not able to work. As the swelling goes down, the
patient's memory returns, often slowly over a period of
weeks, months or even years. Temporary memory loss may also
be an emotional response to the stress of the event that
caused the TBI.
Other, less common, types of memory loss stemming from
traumatic brain injury are fixed. These result from damage
to the nerves and axons (connections between nerves) of the
brain itself. Because the brain cannot heal itself like an
arm or a leg, any function that is damaged during a TBI is
permanently impaired unless the brain can learn to perform
that function differently. Fixed amnesia may include
inability to remember events before the injury, or loss of
memory of the meanings of certain things, such as words or
smells or objects. Less commonly, a person may not remember
skills he or she had before the TBI.
Brain Damage and Anteretrograde Amnesia
A patient with TBI may also develop anteretrograde amnesia
-- an inability to form memories of events that happened
after the injury. The reason for this is not well
understood, but an October 2006 study by researchers at the
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found that TBIs reduce
the levels of a protein in the brain that helps it balance
its activity. Without enough of that protein, the brain can
"overload," the researchers said, interfering with memory
formation, particularly the ability to learn new things.
Treatment Options for Traumatic Brain Injury Patients with
Amnesia
There is no treatment for memory loss caused by a traumatic
brain injury; if the memory does not come back on its own,
it is gone forever. However, a September 2006 study
published in Neurology, the scientific journal of the
American Academy of Neurology, showed promising results in
TBI patients with anteretrograde memory loss who took the
drug rivastigmine. The drug, which is sold to Alzheimer's
disease patients under the brand name Exelon, helped
patients with moderate to severe memory loss score better
on memory tests than another group of patients that took
placebos. The results were not as good for patients who had
only mild memory loss. If you suffer from traumatic brain
injury-related memory problems, you may wish to contact an
experienced TBI attorney to discuss your options, which may
include filing a brain injury lawsuit in order to gain
compensation for your medical costs.
----------------------------------------------------
LegalView.com, your source for everything legal on the Web,
provides users with information on everything from finding
a mesothelioma lawyer to determining the right construction
accident law firm. Those suffering from a traumatic brain
injury (TBI) can find out medical information and how to
locate a http://brain-injury.legalview.com . For more legal
information visit http://www.legalview.com/ .
No comments:
Post a Comment