Mild Brain Injury: Introduction | Definitions | Epidemiology |
Pathophysiology | Sequelae of mTBI | Is There a Postconcussive
Syndrome? | Predictors of Incomplete Recovery | Functional
Disability | Treatment Issues | Key Clinical Points |
Recommended Readings | References Severity of brain injury
exists along a broad continuum (see Chapter 2, Neuropathology).
Discerning the extent of injury neuropathology in humans is
limited to examination of the brain either at autopsy or
indirectly through neuroimaging. This has resulted in efforts to
classify brain injury severity on the basis of clinical signs
and symptoms evident at the time of injury or shortly
thereafter. This approach does not take into account the forces
that contribute to the injury, measures of associated
neuropathology, or ultimate functional outcome. Thus, these
efforts are at best an approximation of injury severity.
Nevertheless, over the last several decades it has become the
convention to categorize injury severity into three groups:
mild, m