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Concussion
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Concussion is a traumatic brain injury. In most cases, it has a light course and averages up to 70-80% of neurosurgical injuries.
Since concussion is an easy TBT, it is not accompanied by macroscopic morphological changes in the nervous tissue of the brain. These changes can be determined if microscopic examination is carried out. They include a violation of the structure of neurons, a change in cell membranes, mitochondria and other structural elements of cells.
[Symptoms of concussion
Concussion is characterized by the fact that the clinical symptoms develop and subside quite quickly. The main symptom is a short-term (often instantaneous) loss of consciousness (fainting), which rarely lasts until 10-20 minutes. Against the background of the unconscious state, reactions to pain stimuli remain. Loss of consciousness when the brain is shaken in children in the period from infant to school age is a rarity.
Short-term loss of consciousness goes into a state of stunning. In this case, you can observe such symptoms of concussion as: drowsiness, lethargy, indifference to others. Often one can observe nausea, and sometimes a single vomiting, which in infants can be a regurgitation. In the clinical picture, general cerebral symptoms of concussion predominate: headaches, dizziness, tinnitus, often memory loss (amnesia). Almost always with a concussion of the brain there is a slight focal symptomatology, which quickly regresses within 1 day. The most diagnostic focal brain concussion symptoms are spontaneous horizontal nystagmus, the Marinescu-Radovic symptom, the disappearance or weakening of the abdominal reflexes, the Sedan symptom, the Gurevich-Mann symptom, the weakness of convergence, mild tendon hypo- or hyperanisoreflexia. The patients are irritated by bright light, noise, various vegetative disturbances (fever, hyperhidrosis, fatigue, psychological exhaustion, lethargy) are characteristic.
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Treatment of concussion of the brain
Treatment concussion conservative. It is based on dynamic observation and strict bed rest for 7-10 days, as well as symptomatic treatment methods that include analgesics, sedatives, if necessary, antiemetics. Concussion in the first day is treated with antihistamines and natural antioxidants (vitamin E). In the event that the headache does not stop, even with the use of analgesics, a lumbar puncture is mandatory to determine the pressure of the CSF. Depending on the indicator, appropriate treatment is prescribed.