Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries

Abstract

Traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries are significant causes of permanent disability and death. In 2010, 823,000 traumatic brain injuries were reported in the United States alone; in fact, the actual number is likely considerably higher because mild traumatic brain injuries and concussions are underreported. The number of new traumatic spinal cord injuries has been estimated at 12,000 annually. Survival from these injuries has increased due to improvements in medical care. This review covers mild traumatic brain injury and concussion, moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, and traumatic spinal cord injury. Figures include computed tomography scans showing a frontal contusion, diffuse cerebral edema and intracranial air from a gunshot wound, a subdural hematoma, an epidural hematoma, a skull fracture with epidural hematoma, and a spinal fracture from a gunshot wound. Tables list requirements for players with concussion, key guidelines for prehospital management of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, key guidelines for management of moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, brain herniation brain code, key clinical practice guidelines for managing cervical spine and spinal cord injury, and the American Spinal Injury Association’s neurologic classification of spinal cord injury. This review contains 6 highly rendered figures, 12 tables, and 55 references.