Concussion and Traumatic Encephalopathy PDF Free Download

Preface:

Typical, clinically attended concussive brain injuries oft en lead to persistent deleterious brain change. Contrary to the guesses of writers from previous centuries, according to the best analysis of the best empirical evidence, more than 40% of survivors of such concussions still suff er from and/ or exhibit neurobehavioral defi cits at one year or more post- injury. Th at fact has global implications for human health. It is not clear at what moment in history that fact became apparent to the scholarly community. It is not clear to whom credit belongs for that startling observation. In fact, rather than a eureka moment followed by proclamation and universal acclaim, the discovery that typical concussions commonly lead to lasting cerebral dysfunction was initially received with blinking dubiety and even stiff – necked resistance. Th ankfully (if somewhat belatedly), the world’s neurological community has shaken off the dogged dogma of the 20th century and attended with steadily improving observations and steadily increasing alarm to the empirical evidence that concussions are highly heterogeneous and not reliably benign. Th at is a paradigm shift . A concussion is a rattling blow or earthquake- like shaking. To discuss such a blow and its possible eff ects, one is obliged to specify what is concussed. Sometimes, it is the brain. Sometimes, the blow causes injury. When that occurs, the logical specifi er is concussive brain injury (CBI). Th e subject of this book, therefore, is CBI. CBI is not “mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).” CBI is not mild anything. It means what it says – comprising the spectrum of brain injuries attributable to inopportune visitation by an abrupt external force that, usually, strikes the hair of the head and causes harm. CBI is the most common type of mammalian TBI. Most mammalian CBIs pass without notice or report, which limits our knowledge to a subset. Th ose are the typical, clinically attended CBIs that account for about 90% of human emergency room visits aft er head trauma. Athletic trainers, combat medics, and primary care providers also attend such injuries. Confessing from the outset that one can say little about the huge domain of unreported CBI, one does one’s best with the limited available data. Th e editors of this book feel animated by the thrill of discovery, humbled by the enormity of the problem, and passionate about fi guring things out based on fi rst principles. We pledge to do our best.

More Info:

Hardcover: 890 pages
1 edition (April 18, 2019)
Language: English