A report on Amnesia and Post-traumatic amnesia

Image from WWI, taken in an Australian dressing station near Ypres in 1917. The wounded soldier in the lower left of the photo has a dazed stare, a frequent symptom of "shell shock".

There are two types of amnesia: retrograde amnesia (loss of memories that were formed shortly before the injury) and anterograde amnesia (problems with creating new memories after the injury has taken place).

- Post-traumatic amnesia

Post-traumatic amnesia is generally due to a head injury (example: a fall, a knock on the head). Traumatic amnesia is often transient, but may be permanent or either anterograde, retrograde, or mixed type. The extent of the period covered by the amnesia is related to the degree of injury and may give an indication of the prognosis for recovery of other functions. Mild trauma, such as a car accident that results in no more than mild whiplash, might cause the occupant of a car to have no memory of the moments just before the accident due to a brief interruption in the short/long-term memory transfer mechanism. The patient may also lose knowledge of who people are. Having longer periods of amnesia or consciousness after an injury may be an indication that recovery from remaining concussion symptoms will take much longer.

- Amnesia

2 related topics with Alpha

Retrograde amnesia

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Loss of memory-access to events that occurred or information that was learned in the past.

This would resemble generic amnesia.

Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) is a state of confusion that occurs immediately following a traumatic brain injury in which the injured person is disoriented and unable to remember events that occur after the injury.

$CT scan showing cerebral contusions, hemorrhage within the hemispheres, subdural hematoma, and skull fractures$

Traumatic brain injury

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Intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force.

$CT scan showing cerebral contusions, hemorrhage within the hemispheres, subdural hematoma, and skull fractures$

CT scan Spread of the subdural hematoma (single arrows), midline shift (double arrows)

Unequal pupil size is potentially a sign of a serious brain injury.

Ricochet of the brain within the skull may account for the coup-contrecoup phenomenon.

MRI scan showing damage due to brain herniation after TBI

CT scan showing epidural hematoma (arrow)

Demonstration in 1912 of the Warren Safety Helmet, which was designed to protect pilots but has often been wrongly described as a football helmet.

Protective sports equipment such as helmets can partially protect athletes from head injury.

Physical therapy will commonly include muscle strength exercise.

The Amsterdam Gait Classification facilitates the assessment of the gait pattern in patients after a traumatic brain injury. It helps to facilitate communication in the interdisciplinary team between those affected, doctors, physiotherapists and orthotists.

Ankle-foot orthosis with dynamic functional elements, whose adjustable spring resistances in plantar and dorsiflexion can be separately adapted to the patient's gait. The orthosis is used to improve safety when standing and walking. (Designation of the orthosis according to the body parts included in the orthosis fitting: ankle and foot, English abbreviation: AFO for ankle-foot orthoses)

The relative risk of post-traumatic seizures increases with the severity of traumatic brain injury.

A CT of the head years after a traumatic brain injury showing an empty space where the damage occurred marked by the arrow.

Phineas Gage with the tamping iron that entered his left cheek and emerged at the top of his head

A current model developed by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs uses all three criteria of GCS after resuscitation, duration of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), and loss of consciousness (LOC).

Memory loss, the most common cognitive impairment among head-injured people, occurs in 20–79% of people with closed head trauma, depending on severity.