Traumatic brain injury is a frequent byproduct of many types of serious accidents, including auto collisions, workplace accidents and falls. These types of injuries often have immediate and obvious consequences. However, new research reveals that the full extent of a traumatic brain injury may not fully manifest until months or years after the trauma took place.
Traumatic brain injury is a frequent byproduct of many types of serious accidents, including auto collisions, workplace accidents and falls. These types of injuries often have immediate and obvious consequences. However, new research reveals that the full extent of a traumatic brain injury may not fully manifest until months or years after the trauma took place.
A new study headed up by Ohio State University associate professor Jonathan Godbout and published inBiological Psychiatry, suggests that exaggerated immune responses predicated by concussion and other traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause symptoms of depression and social withdrawal in lab mice. The theory is that a TBI can leave brain tissue in a heighted state of readiness, causing an exaggerated immune response if any outside contagion is subsequently introduced. In theory, this could allow the potential mental health effect of a serious head injury to remain dormant, even for years, until an infection or other trauma causes it to surface.
The complex consequences of TBI are not new and links have been suggested between head injury and various other conditions such as the following:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Memory loss
- Personality changes
- Cognitive loss
- Headaches
- Vision and other sensory changes
- Pain syndromes
- Insomnia
The variety of effects TBIs can have combined with the fact that many conditions may not become apparent until weeks, months or even years after an initial injury makes these cases particularly hard to handle in the legal context. Personal injury attorneys in Wisconsin and Illinois should closely examine client medical records and identify all the tangential effects of traumatic brain injuries to ensure full and fair consideration for every adverse effect their clients suffer.
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