1/51. bereavement and mourning in pediatric rehabilitation settings.Developmental changes in children's acquisition of death concepts and in their emotional reactions are reviewed. Moderating variables that may affect the nature of grieving processes after parental or sibling death are discussed, including circumstances of the loss, prior experience with death, and the child's cognitive functioning. Pragmatic issues (such as when and how to inform children of parental or sibling death) regarding bereavement and mourning in children with acquired brain injuries are reviewed and illustrated by means of case studies. Special challenges to rehabilitation professionals who must deal with these issues (including the concurrent treatment of secondary losses, cognitive deficits, and organic personality changes) are discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/51. death due to concussion and alcohol.We encountered 5 deaths following blunt trauma to the face and head in which the injuries were predominantly soft tissue in nature with absence of skull fractures, intracranial bleeding, or detectable injury to the brain. All individuals were intoxicated, with blood ethanol levels ranging from 0.22 to 0.33 g/dl. We feel that in these deaths, ethanol augmentation of the effects of concussive brain injury, with resultant posttraumatic apnea, was the mechanism of death.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/51. air-puff-induced facilitation of motor cortical excitability studied in patients with discrete brain lesions.air-puff stimulation applied to a fingertip is known to exert a location-specific facilitatory effect on the size of the motor evoked potentials elicited in hand muscles by transcranial magnetic stimulation. In order to clarify its nature and the pathway responsible for its generation, we studied 27 patients with discrete lesions in the brain (16, 9 and 2 patients with lesions in the cerebral cortex, thalamus and brainstem, respectively). Facilitation was absent in patients with lesions affecting the primary sensorimotor area, whereas it was preserved in patients with cortical lesions that spared this area. Facilitation was abolished with thalamic lesions that totally destroyed the nucleus ventralis posterolateralis (VPL), but was preserved with lesions that at least partly spared it. Lesions of the spinothalamic tract did not impair facilitation. The size of the N20-P25 component of the somatosensory evoked potential showed a mild correlation with the amount of facilitation. The facilitation is mainly mediated by sensory inputs that ascend the dorsal column and reach the cortex through VPL. These are fed into the primary motor area via the primary sensory area, especially its anterior portion, corresponding to Brodmann areas 3 and 1 (possibly also area 2), without involving other cortical regions. The spinothalamic tract and direct thalamic inputs into the motor cortex do not contribute much to this effect. Some patients could generate voluntary movements despite the absence of the facilitatory effect. The present method will enable us to investigate in humans the function of one of the somatotopically organized sensory feedback input pathways into the motor cortex, and will be useful in monitoring ongoing finger movements during object manipulation.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/51. Surgical treatment of penetrating orbito-cranial injuries. Case report.Penetrating orbital injuries are not frequent but neither are they rare. The various diagnostic and therapeutic problems are related to the nature of the penetrating object, its velocity, shape and size as well as the possibility that it may be partially or wholly retained within the orbit. The authors present another case with unusual characteristics and discuss the strategies available for the best possible treatment of this traumatic pathology in the light of the published data. The patient in this case was a young man involved in a road accident who presented orbito-cerebral penetration caused by a metal rod with a protective plastic cap. Following the accident, the plastic cap (2.5x2 cm) was partially retained in the orbit. At initial clinical examination, damage appeared to be exclusively ophthalmological. Subsequent CT scan demonstrated the degree of intracerebral involvement. The damaged cerebral tissue was removed together with bone fragments via a bifrontal craniotomy, the foreign body was extracted and the dura repaired. Postoperative recovery was normal and there were no neuro-ophthalmological deficits at long-term clinical assessment. Orbito-cranial penetration, which is generally associated with violent injuries caused by high-velocity missiles, may not be suspected in traumas produced by low-velocity objects. Diagnostic orientation largely depends on precise knowledge of the traumatic event and the object responsible. When penetration is suspected and/or the object responsible is inadequately identified, a CT scan is indicated. The type of procedure to adopt for extraction, depends on the size and nature of the retained object. Although the possibility of non-surgical extraction has been described, surgical removal is the safest form of treatment in cases with extensive laceration and brain contusion.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/51. flushing in relation to a possible rise in intracranial pressure: documentation of an unusual clinical sign. Report of five cases.This report documents clinical features in five children who developed transient reddening of the skin (epidermal flushing) in association with acute elevations in intracranial pressure (ICP). Four boys and one girl (ages 9-15 years) deteriorated acutely secondary to intracranial hypertension ranging from 30 to 80 mm Hg in the four documented cases. Two patients suffered from ventriculoperitoneal shunt malfunctions, one had diffuse cerebral edema secondary to traumatic brain injury, one was found to have pneumococcal meningitis and hydrocephalus, and one suffered an intraventricular hemorrhage and hydrocephalus intraoperatively. All patients were noted to have developed epidermal flushing involving either the upper chest, face, or arms during their period of neurological deterioration. The response was transient, typically lasting 5 to 15 minutes, and dissipated quickly. The flushing reaction is postulated to be a centrally mediated response to sudden elevations in ICP. Several potential mechanisms are discussed. flushing has clinical importance because it may indicate significant elevations in ICP when it is associated with neurological deterioration. Because of its transient nature, the importance of epidermal flushing is often unrecognized; its presence confirms the need for urgent treatment.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/51. Five cases of brain injury following amniocentesis in mid-term pregnancy.This paper describes the neuroimaging and neuropathological findings in five cases of severe brain damage after traumatic mid-trimester amniocentesis, all performed between 1986 and 1994. Although fetal injury after amniocentesis has been reported, reports of brain injury are infrequent. Continuous ultrasound monitoring may reduce the risk of fetal injury but follow-up ultrasound scans can be falsely reassuring. Withdrawal of blood-stained fluid, particularly if it contains tissue fragments, should alert the operator to the possibility of fetal damage. Histological examination of such tissue fragments may confirm the nature of the fetal damage. The consequences of fetal brain injury are severe, all five of our cases showed evidence of disruption of brain development compatible with mid-term injury. Obstetricians and their patients should be aware of the small but significant risk of brain damage after mid-term amniocentesis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/51. Craniocerebral injury resulting from transorbital stick penetration in children.OBJECTS: Two children were admitted to hospital for treatment of craniocerebral injury with transorbital penetration. methods: One child aged 6 years and 6 months had poked a chopstick in his orbit. There was no report of either a palpebral or an ocular wound. He had subsequently developed a meningeal syndrome with a cerebral abscess managed by needle aspiration biopsy and intravenous antibiotics. The other child, aged 4, had fallen onto a metal rod. He presented with a palpebral wound, motor disorders and coma, all due to a frontal intracerebral hematoma. There was an improvement in outcome without complications of an infectious nature or motor sequelae. CONCLUSIONS: Such head injuries are rare. Clinical, radiological and ophthalmological investigations must be performed, including computed tomography (CT) scan or cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with antibiotic treatment for suspected microorganisms.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/51. Agitation assessment in severe traumatic brain injury: methodological and clinical issues.The aim of this single case study was to evaluate the applicability of a graphic and statistical time-series analyses in the observation of an agitation disturbance in a 16-year-old patient who had sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. The agitation was measured using the Agitated Behaviour Scale. The experimental model was of the A-B type: phase A corresponded to the period of vegetative state, and phase B to the period following the reawakening from coma. The data were submitted to visual and statistical analysis by the split-middle trend line method, function of autocorrelation, and C statistic. The results show the different nature and frequency of the agitated behaviour during the vegetative state and after reawakening from coma. The application of a statistical analysis to establish whether the behavioural disturbance is random or a response to the environment allows the adoption of specific and potentially more efficacious treatments.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/51. Facial fractures and related injuries: a ten-year retrospective analysis.A retrospective analysis of 828 patients with significant midface or mandibular fractures was undertaken to illustrate the multisystem nature of traumatic injuries associated with fracture of the facial skeleton, covering the period from 1985 to 1994. Special emphasis was placed on determining associated injuries sustained as well as epidemiological information. The experience presented differs from other large series in the literature in that the predominant mechanism of injury is motor vehicle accidents (67%) rather than assaults. Of the patients reviewed, 89% sustained significant associated injuries. Closed head trauma with documented loss of consciousness was noted most frequently (40%), followed by extremity fractures (33%), thoracic trauma (29%), and traumatic brain injuries (25%). Only 11% of patients sustained facial fractures without concomitant injury.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/51. Skull-base trauma: neurosurgical perspective.Trauma to the cranial base can complicate craniofacial injuries and lead to significant neurological morbidity, related to brain and/or cranial nerve injury. The optimal management involves a multidisciplinary effort. This article provides the neurosurgeon's perspective in management of such trauma using a 5-year retrospective analysis of patients sustaining skull-base trauma. The salient features of anterior and middle skull-base (temporal bone) trauma are summarized, and the importance of frontal basilar trauma as well as brain injury is evident. With these injuries, all cranial nerves (except 9 to 12) are at risk; the olfactory nerve and the facial nerve are the first and second, respectively, to sustain injuries. This retrospective analysis provides a better understanding of cranial base trauma and its management. It emphasizes the multifaceted nature of such trauma and the need to recognize anterior skull-base complications, including cerebrospinal fluid leak and brain injury.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nature (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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