Mild-to-Moderate Traumatic Brain Injury: The Facts

• Author: Anthony Feinstein
• Pages: 87-92



MildtoModerate

TraumaticBrainInjury

TheFacts

Anthony Feinstein*

A. INTRODUCTION

This chapterw ill addressth reecent ralquestion srelati ngto traumatic

braininjury

 WhatdenesmildtomoderatetraumaticbraininjuryTBI

 Whatare the rolesof the clinical examinat ionbrain imaging and

neuropsychologicaltestinginpatientswithm ildtomoderateTBI

 Whatexplainspooroutcome

B DEFININGTHESEVERITYOFTR AUMATIC

BRAININJURY

Theseverityoftraumaticbraininjurymaybeascertainedbasedonthree

clinical criteria namelythe Glasgow ComaSca leGCSscorethe du-

rationof posttraumatic amnesia PTAand the length of loss of con-

sciousness

Usingthese criteria a mildTBI isdenedas aGCS of equalto or

greaterthan aPTAoflessthant wentyfourhoursandaloss ofcon-

 MPhilPhDFRCPCHeisaprofessorint heDepartmentofPsych iatryatthe

UniversityofTorontoanddirectoroft heNeuropsychiatr yProgramSun nybrook

HealthSciencesCe ntre