head injury

Amnesia (or amnaesia in Commonwealth English) is a condition in which memory is disturbed. The causes of amnesia are organic or functional. Organic causes include damage to the brain, through trauma or disease, or use of certain (generally sedative) drugs. Functional causes are psychological factors, such as defense mechanisms. Hysterical post-traumatic amnesia is an example of this. Amnesia may also be spontaneous, in the case of transient global amnesia. T ...

Including:

• Amnesia - Types of amnesia
• Amnesia - Amnesia in fiction

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A skull, or cranium, is a bony structure of Craniates which serves as the general framework for a head. The skull supports the structures of the face and protects the brain against injury. Skull - Humans. In humans, the adult skull is normally made up of 28 bones. Except for the mandible, all of the bones of the skull are joined together by sutures, rigid articulations permitting very little movement. Eight bones form the neurocranium (braincase), a protective vault of bone surrounding ...

Including:

• Skull - Humans
• Skull - Development of the skull
• Skull - Pathology
• Skull - Craniometry and morphology of human skulls
• Skull - Bones of the human skull
• Skull - Other features of the skull

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A headache (medically known as cephalgia) is a condition of mild to severe pain in the head; sometimes upper back or neck pain may also be interpreted as a headache. Headache is the second-most common form of local pain. (The most common is molar pain, i.e. toothache in one or more of the flat-crowned teeth used for grinding food.) Headaches have a wide variety of causes, ranging from eyestrain to inflammation of the sinus cavities to life-threatening conditions such as encephalitis, brain cancer, meningitis, and cerebra ...

Including:

• Headache - Pathophysiology
• Headache - Types
• Headache - Causes
• Headache - Diagnosis
• Headache - Treatment

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Aphasia is a loss or impairment of the ability to produce or comprehend language, due to brain damage. It is usually a result of damage to the language centres of the brain (like Broca's area). These areas are always located in the left hemisphere and in most people this is where the ability to produce and comprehend language is found. However in a very small number of people language ability is found in the right hemisphere. Damage to these language areas can be caused by a stroke or physical injury. Depending on the area and extent ...

Including:

• Aphasia - Who has aphasia?
• Aphasia - Causes
• Aphasia - Diagnosis
• Aphasia - Treatment
• Aphasia - What research is being done for aphasia?
• Aphasia - Types of aphasia

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Nausea (Greek Ναυτεία) is the sensation of unease and discomfort in the stomach with an urge to vomit. Nausea - Causes. Nausea is a symptom of many conditions. It is also an adverse effect of many drugs. In medicine, nausea is a particular problem during some chemotherapy regimens and following general anaesthesia. Nausea is also a common symptom of pregnancy. Other causes include: altitude sickness, angina, brain tumor, cirrhosis, clinical depression, coeliac disea ...

Including:

• Nausea - Causes
• Nausea - Treatment

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A stroke or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) occurs when the blood supply to a part of the brain is suddenly interrupted. In brain tissue, a reduction of blood flow, ischemia, leads to an ischemic cascade that can damage or kill brain cells. Death of brain tissue can lead to loss of the function controlled by that tissue. Thus stroke is the third leading cause of death and leading cause of adult disability in the US and industrialized European nations (Jauch, 2005), and is a medical emergency. To underscore the seriousness ...

Including:

• Stroke - Types of stroke
• Stroke - Ischemic stroke
• Stroke - Hemorrhagic stroke
• Stroke - Watershed stroke
• Stroke - Rarer types of stroke
• Stroke - Causes
• Stroke - Ischemic stroke
• Stroke - Hemorrhagic stroke
• Stroke - Watershed stroke
• Stroke - Signs and symptoms
• Stroke - Diagnosis
• Stroke - Pathophysiology
• Stroke - Prevention
• Stroke - Treatment
• Stroke - Early assessment
• Stroke - Ischemic stroke
• Stroke - Hemorrhagic stroke
• Stroke - Care and rehabilitation
• Stroke - Prognosis
• Stroke - Risk factors
• Stroke - History

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There are four types of headache: vascular, muscle contraction (tension), traction, and inflammatory. Vascular The most common type of vascular headache is migraine. Migraine headaches are usually characterized by severe pain on one or both sides of the head, an upset stomach, and, at times, disturbed vision. Women are more likely than men to have migraine headaches. After migraine, the most common type of vascular headache is the toxic headache produced by fever. Other kinds of vascular headaches ...

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Headache, Headache - Pathophysiology, Headache - Types, Headache - Causes, Headache - Diagnosis, Headache - Treatment

Read more here: » Headache: Encyclopedia II - Headache - Types

The brain tissue, the dura mater and the skull bones are not sensitive to pain, because they lack pain-sensitive nerve fibers. Several areas of the head can hurt, including a network of nerves which extends over the scalp and certain nerves in the face, mouth, and throat. The basal part of the meninges and the great blood vessels, arteriae as well as sinuses, do have pain perception. Headache often results from traction to or irritation of the meninges and blood vessels. Also sen ...

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Headache, Headache - Pathophysiology, Headache - Types, Headache - Causes, Headache - Diagnosis, Headache - Treatment

Read more here: » Headache: Encyclopedia II - Headache - Pathophysiology

Rather than in hypoxia, a more general term denoting a shortage of oxygen, ischæmia is an absolute or relative shortage of the blood supply to an organ. Relative shortage means the mismatch of blood supply (oxygen delivery) and blood request for adequate oxygenation of tissue. Ischæmia can also be described as an inadequate flow of blood to a part of the body, caused by constriction or blockage of the blood vessels supplying it. Ischemia of ...

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Ischemia, Ischemia - Mechanism, Ischemia - Consequences

Read more here: » Ischemia: Encyclopedia II - Ischemia - Mechanism

The DSM attempts to represent a consensus view of the members of the American Psychiatric Association. However, more so than in other parts of the DSM, the classification of Axis II personality disorders—deeply ingrained, maladaptive, lifelong behaviour patterns—has come under sustained and serious criticism from its inception in 1952. The DSM adopts a categorical approach, assuming that personality disorders are "qualitatively distinct clinical syndromes" (p. 689). This is doubted by many. The polythetic form of the DSM's Diagnostic Cri ...

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Personality disorder, Personality disorder - DSM criteria, Personality disorder - General diagnostic criteria for a personality disorder, Personality disorder - List of personality disorders defined in the DSM, Personality disorder - Current thinking and criticism, Personality disorder - Footnote

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Symptoms of subdural hemorrhage have a slower onset than those of epidural hemorrhages because the lower pressure veins bleed more slowly than arteries. Thus, signs and symptoms may show up within 24 hours but can be delayed as much as 2 weeks (Sanders and McKenna, 2001). If the bleeds are large enough to put pressure on the brain, signs of increased ICP or damage to part of the brain will be present (Wagner, 2004). Other signs and symptoms of subdural hematoma include the following: A history of recent head injury < ...

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Subdural hematoma, Subdural hematoma - Causes, Subdural hematoma - Signs and symptoms, Subdural hematoma - Features, Subdural hematoma - Subtypes, Subdural hematoma - Pathophysiology, Subdural hematoma - Treatment, Subdural hematoma - Risk factors, Subdural hematoma - Prevention

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Aphasia can be caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the brain. Many times, the cause of the brain injury is a stroke. A stroke occurs when, for some reason, blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. Brain cells die when they do not receive their normal supply of blood, which carries oxygen and important nutrients. Other causes of brain injury are severe blows to the head, brain tumors, brain infections, ...

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Aphasia, Aphasia - Who has aphasia?, Aphasia - Causes, Aphasia - Diagnosis, Aphasia - Treatment, Aphasia - What research is being done for aphasia?, Aphasia - Types of aphasia, Aphasia - Aphasia in popular culture

Read more here: » Aphasia: Encyclopedia II - Aphasia - Causes

Aphasia can be caused by damage to one or more of the language areas of the brain. Many times, the cause of the brain injury is a stroke. A stroke occurs when, for some reason, blood is unable to reach a part of the brain. Brain cells die when they do not receive their normal supply of blood, which carries oxygen and important nutrients. Other causes of brain injury are severe blows to the head, brain tumors, brain infections, ...

See also:

Aphasia, Aphasia - Who has aphasia?, Aphasia - Causes, Aphasia - Diagnosis, Aphasia - Treatment, Aphasia - What research is being done for aphasia?, Aphasia - Types of aphasia

Read more here: » Aphasia: Encyclopedia II - Aphasia - Causes

In humans, the adult skull is normally made up of 28 bones. Except for the mandible, all of the bones of the skull are joined together by sutures, rigid articulations permitting very little movement. Eight bones form the neurocranium (braincase), a protective vault of bone surrounding the brain and medulla oblongata. Fourteen bones form the splanchnocranium, the bones supporting the face. Encased within the temporal bones are the six ear ossicles of the middle ear. The hyoid bone, supporting the larynx, is usually not considered as part of the skull, as it does not ...

See also:

Skull, Skull - Humans, Skull - Development of the skull, Skull - Pathology, Skull - Craniometry and morphology of human skulls, Skull - Bones of the human skull, Skull - Other features of the skull

Read more here: » Skull: Encyclopedia II - Skull - Humans

Physicians have noticed for thousands of years that a person's mental state sometimes changes dramatically following recovery from physiopathological shock or brain seizures, whether induced by a head injury, an intense febrile illness such as malaria, or chemically induced loss of consciousness or convulsions. In the time of the Roman Empire, for instance, electric fishes were used to provide electric shocks to ill patients. For example, Scribonius Largus used it in AD 47 for treating persistent headaches, It is said that the Emperor Claudi ...

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Shock therapy, Shock therapy - History, Shock therapy - Forms of shock therapy, Shock therapy - Mechanisms of action

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Nausea is a symptom of many conditions. It is also an adverse effect of many drugs. In medicine, nausea is a particular problem during some chemotherapy regimens and following general anaesthesia. Nausea is also a common symptom of pregnancy. Other causes include: altitude sickness, angina, brain tumor, cirrhosis, clinical depression, coeliac disease, colorectal cancer, crohn's disease, decompression sickness, esophagitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, gastroenteritis, hangover, head injury, hepatitis C, hepatocellular carci ...

See also:

Nausea, Nausea - Causes, Nausea - Treatment

Read more here: » Nausea: Encyclopedia II - Nausea - Causes

In penetrating injury from high velocity missiles, injuries may occur not only from initial laceration and crushing of brain tissue by the projectile but also from the subsequent cavitation. High velocity objects create centrifugal forces and can create a shock wave that cause stretch injuries, forming a cavity that is three to four times greater in diameter than the missile itself (Vinas and Pilistis, 2004). A pulsating temporary cavity is also formed by a high-speed missile and can have a diameter thirty times greater than that of the miss ...

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Penetrating head injury, Penetrating head injury - Mechanisms, Penetrating head injury - Pathophysiology, Penetrating head injury - Outcome

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Linear skull fractures, the most common type of skull fracture, occur in 62% of patients with severe head injury (Gilbert, 1990; Graham and Gennareli, 2000). Usually caused by widely distributed forces, linear fractures often occur when the impact causes the area of the skull that was struck to bend inward, making the area around it buckle outward (Gilbert, 1990; Graham and Gennareli, 2000). In rare cases, a linear fracture can develop and lengthen as the brain swells, in what is called a growing fracture. This can cause growth of cys ...

See also:

Skull fracture, Skull fracture - Linear fracture, Skull fracture - Comminuted fracture, Skull fracture - Basilar skull fracture

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Stroke - Early assessment. It is important to identify a stroke as early as possible because patients who are treated earlier are more likely to survive and have better recoveries. If a patient is suspected of having a stroke, emergency services should be contacted immediately. The patient should be transported to the nearest hospital that can provide a rapid evaluation and treatment with the latest available therapies targeted to the type of stroke. The faster these therapies are started for hemorrhagic a ...

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Stroke, Stroke - Types of stroke, Stroke - Ischemic stroke, Stroke - Hemorrhagic stroke, Stroke - Watershed stroke, Stroke - Rarer types of stroke, Stroke - Causes, Stroke - Ischemic stroke, Stroke - Hemorrhagic stroke, Stroke - Watershed stroke, Stroke - Signs and symptoms, Stroke - Diagnosis, Stroke - Pathophysiology, Stroke - Prevention, Stroke - Treatment, Stroke - Early assessment, Stroke - Ischemic stroke, Stroke - Hemorrhagic stroke, Stroke - Care and rehabilitation, Stroke - Prognosis, Stroke - Risk factors, Stroke - History

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Factors increasing the risk of a subdural hematoma include very young or very old age. As the brain shrinks with age, the subdural space enlarges and the veins that traverse the space must travel over a wider distance, making them more vulnerable to tears. This and the fact that the elderly have more brittle veins make chronic subdural bleeds more common in older patients (Downie, 2001). Infants, too, have larger subdural spaces and are more predisposed to subdural bleeds than are young adults (Wagner, 2004). Other risk factors for subdural bleeds include taking blood thinners (antic ...

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Subdural hematoma, Subdural hematoma - Causes, Subdural hematoma - Signs and symptoms, Subdural hematoma - Features, Subdural hematoma - Subtypes, Subdural hematoma - Pathophysiology, Subdural hematoma - Treatment, Subdural hematoma - Risk factors, Subdural hematoma - Prevention

Read more here: » Subdural hematoma: Encyclopedia II - Subdural hematoma - Risk factors