Types of Brain Injuries and Their Severity

If you or a loved one has suffered a traumatic brain injury due to the careless actions of another person or entity, you are probably overwhelmed by the damages your injury has caused. Traumatic brain injuries are life-changing which is why you need need a brain injury lawyer on your side to help you obtain the compensation you need through a personal injury lawsuit.

The information below covers the different types of traumatic brain injuries, as well as the different levels of severity of brain injuries. Understanding these details is essential when undertaking a personal injury case involving a brain injury. These terms will be used by both doctors and insurance adjusters when handling your case. Our experienced brain injury lawyers at Dolman Law Group want to make sure you understand the entire process of obtaining that compensation through a personal injury claim.

For any other questions you might have and to further discuss your brain injury accident, please do not hesitate to contact our attorneys at Dolman Law Group Accident Injury Lawyers, PA, at 866-426-1037 or fill out our confidential contact form for more information for a free, no-obligation consultation.

What is a Traumatic Brain Injury?

The term “brain injury” covers a wide range of conditions and injuries relating to the brain, skull, and scalp. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a severe brain injury that usually results when the head or body suffers from a violent blow or jolt. This injury typically results in swelling, bruising, bleeding, or tearing of the brain tissue.

The brain is central to your body functioning properly and any damage to it has the potential to change the way your body operates. That is why brain injuries often result in life-changing conditions for the victim and their family. These injuries can include a mild concussion, with symptoms such as headaches and temporary confusion, or in more severe cases, coma or even death.

Levels of Severity in Traumatic Brain Injuries

While there are levels of severity in brain injuries, the same injury in one person might produce different symptoms in another. Even if you believe your brain injury is mild, you may still suffer serious and long-lasting effects. Unless you seek medical attention, there is no way to know for sure whether you or somebody else has suffered a TBI or may be in danger due to one.

Depending on the medical professional’s assessment of how severe the injury to your brain is, TBIs can usually be placed into one of three categories:

• Mild Injury: A mild TBI is characterized by loss of consciousness for a few seconds or minutes, if at all. Loss of consciousness doesn’t need to occur and a victim may only appear to be confused or disoriented. With mild TBIs, medical tests may show that the brain was not injured, although this can be untrue. This is why doctors look closely at the victim’s mental functioning in diagnosing mild TBIs and concussions.
• Moderate Injury: A moderate TBI is characterized by loss of consciousness that may last up to a few hours and confusion that can last up to weeks. With a moderate TBI, complications can last for months and could be permanent. These complications can be physical, cognitive, or behavioral. Many treatment programs will be needed to address these complications.
• Severe Brain Injury: The most severe TBIs come from crushing blows or penetration to the skull and brain. This level of injury is life-threatening and the victim is not likely to return to the life that they once had. While closed head injuries can result in severe brain injury, typically severe head trauma is from an open head injury where the skull has been seriously damaged.

Types of TBIs Suffered After an Accident

A traumatic brain injury can come in many different forms. Possible complications and required treatments will greatly depend on how the injury is acquired, the location of the injury, and the severity of the brain damage. Types of traumatic brain injuries that often occur after an accident include:

Concussions

A concussion is a minor brain injury that is caused by an impact to the head, shaking, or a sudden change in movement, like whiplash. Oftentimes, concussions cannot be seen through an imaging test, but they should still be considered serious and should be treated as so.

Concussions can cause headaches, problems with concentration, memory loss, and disorientation. Concussions are especially dangerous if more than one is sustained over time, or if a second one occurs before the first one heals (“second impact syndrome”). 

Brain Contusions

A brain contusion is a bruise of the brain tissue, just like one might have a bruise on their skin. And like any other bruise, they are caused by the breaking and leaking of small blood vessels. On the skin level, this leaking blood under the skin is what causes the blue coloring; on the brain, the leaking causes a plethora of issues that mostly relate to a building of pressure.

Brain contusions can be caused by any impact to the head. For example, a contusion may occur in a car accident when the head hits the steering wheel, a slip, and fall when the head hits the ground, or in a sports-related accident in which the brain takes a significant impact.

During the impact that causes a brain contusion, it’s possible for the brain to be damaged directly under the site of impact, on the opposite side from the point of impact as the brain is slammed into the opposing side of the skull, or both.  These differences in the site of injury are classified under coup and contrecoup injuries.

Contusions, like concussions, can range dramatically from minor to extremely severe. Severe contusions may cause a loss of consciousness, confusion, tiredness, emotional distress, or agitation. More severe contusions may cause the brain to swell, could prevent proper oxygenation, and other serious consequences.

Penetrating  Brain Injuries

Penetrating brain injuries occur when some type of object pierces through the skull. This may cause the object, or hair, skin, or fragments of the skull, to make contact with the brain. This contact with and force on the brain can cause serious injury to a concentrated, or large, part of the brain.

Penetrating brain injuries may be caused by any external force or object that is strong enough to break through the skull, such as:

• A slip-and-fall that causes the skull to crack
• A motor vehicle accident in which something penetrates or breaks the skull
• A gunshot wound to the head, which is the leading cause of death by TBI
• A sports-related injury due to excessive force

Anoxic Brain Injuries

An anoxic brain injury occurs when the brain does not receive enough oxygen to operate properly. After just four to five minutes without a proper amount of oxygen, brain cells will begin to die and brain injury will occur. Since oxygen is carried to the brain by blood, anoxic brain damage most often occurs because of a blockage of this blood flow.

A diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is similar to a concussion in that it results from the brain moving, but it is often much more serious. With a DAI, the head so violently moves that the brain stem cannot keep up with the rate of movement, causing tears in the connections of the brain to the spinal cord. These tears can be microscopic, producing varying degrees of brain damage, or they can be quite large.

Tears that are sufficient may cause extremely serious, life-long effects or they can even be fatal. The severity of symptoms with this type of injury is largely dependent on the brain areas affected, the severity of the tears, and whether any other injuries—such as a contusion or concussion—were also sustained.

Subdural Hematomas

Blockage can occur as a result of a blood clot, stroke, heart attack, or serious trauma, among others. It may also be possible the blood flow to the brain, in quantity, is normal, but that the blood itself is not carrying enough oxygen. This can occur as a result of poisoning, drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning, choking, suffocation, or anything that prevents the lungs from taking in a normal amount of oxygen molecules.