 Brain
Injury Glossary
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Balance
The ability to use appropriate righting and equilibrium
reactions to maintain an upright position. It is usually tested
in sitting and standing positions.
Behavior
The total collection of actions and reactions exhibited by a
person.
Bilateral
Pertaining to both right and left sides.
Brain Injury, Acquired
The implication of this term is that the individual experienced
normal growth and development from conception through birth,
until sustaining an insult to the brain at some later time which
resulted in impairment of brain function.
Brain Injury, Closed
Occurs when the head accelerates and then rapidly decelerates or
collides with another object (for example the windshield of a
car) and brain tissue is damaged, not by the presence of a
foreign object within the brain, but by violent smashing,
stretching, and twisting, of brain tissue. Closed brain injuries
typically cause diffuse tissue damage that results in
disabilities which are generalized and highly variable.
Brain Injury, Mild
A patient with a mild traumatic brain injury is a person who has
had a traumatically-induced physiological disruption of brain
function, as manifested by at least one of the following:
-
any period
of loss of consciousness,
-
any loss of
memory for events immediately before or after the
accident,
-
any
alteration in mental state at the time of the accident
(e.g., feeling dazed, disoriented, or confused),
-
focal
neurological deficit(s) which may or may not be transient;
but where the severity of the injury does not exceed the
following: a) loss of consciousness of approximately 30
minutes or less; b)an initial Glasgow Coma Scale score of
13-15 after 30 minutes; c) Post Traumatic Amnesia not
greater than 24 hours.
Brain Injury, Traumatic
Damage to living brain tissue caused by an external, mechanical
force. It is usually characterized by a period of altered
consciousness (amnesia or coma) that can be very brief (minutes)
or very long (months/indefinitely). The specific disabling
condition(s) may be orthopedic, visual, aural, neurologic,
perceptive/cognitive, or mental/emotional in nature. The term
does not include brain injuries that are caused by insufficient
blood supply, toxic substances, malignancy, disease-producing
organisms, congenital disorders, birth trauma or degenerative
processes.
Brain Plasticity
The ability of intact brain cells to take over functions of
damaged cells; plasticity diminishes with maturation.
Brain Scan
An imaging technique in which a radioactive dye (radionucleide)
is injected into the blood stream and then pictures of the brain
are taken to detect tumors, hemorrhages, blood clots, abscesses
or abnormal anatomy.
Brain Stem
The lower extension of the brain where it connects to the spinal
cord. Neurological functions located in the brain stem include
those necessary for survival (breathing, heart rate) and for
arousal (being awake and alert).
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