Recovery of a Child After Traumatic Brain Injury

The most important point the specialists of CSM Clinic would like to convey to all parents in Kyiv and across Ukraine is that treatment of a traumatic brain injury, regardless of its severity, must take place in a hospital. A child with signs of skull and/or brain damage is hospitalized, properly examined (in the case of a concussion or a mild brain contusion), and provided with dynamic follow-up by a neurologist and a neurosurgeon.

The services of CSM Clinic do not include all of the above. We offer treatment of the consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children in Ukraine and in Kyiv. After a traumatic brain injury, 40-50% of children develop various residual complications, and their nature and severity depend solely on how severe the brain damage was. Sometimes even the most modern and intensive treatment plan does not protect against possible consequences. The negative consequences of an open or closed traumatic brain injury can be long-lasting: they may worsen with age and cause various autonomic disorders, which eventually can interfere with the child's intellectual development and social adaptation.

That is why you should not spend long wondering whether your child needs rehabilitation after a traumatic brain injury. If the injury was more serious than a bump from falling onto a carpet from standing height, be sure to contact the specialists of CSM Clinic, who have extensive experience in rehabilitating children after injuries of any severity.

What is TBI?

Traumatic brain injury, or TBI, is a collective term for damage to the skull bones and brain tissue that differ in severity but share the main symptoms and causes. In essence, there is one cause: mechanical damage to tissue. Only the ways the injury occurs and its severity differ.

Treatment of TBI in children is a common request among parents of young children. Such injuries account for 55% of all mechanical injuries in childhood. Sometimes they occur in ordinary everyday situations: during feeding or bathing, swaddling or dressing, or on a walk. Trying to find someone to blame in such a situation is a thankless task. Often a child is injured when left without parental supervision. Not infrequently injuries happen right in front of the parents or even in their arms: a child who is not afraid of falling but is very physically active becomes a natural disaster that even the most responsible and attentive parents cannot always manage.

Injuries

Clinical recommendations for treating traumatic brain injury in children in Kyiv depend on which tissues are damaged:

1. The skull bones.
2. The various membranes of the brain.
3. The outer covering tissues of the skull and the skin.

These injuries can occur separately or in combination. They are the main criterion for classifying TBI in children. The nature, depth, and severity of the injuries can vary, and based on these differences the following types are distinguished:

1. Concussion. This condition usually does not cause particular concern for doctors because the course occurs without organic changes in brain tissue, with minimal and, more often, fully reversible functional changes, provided that treatment of TBI in children was started in good time.
2. Brain contusion. A condition of moderate severity in which both the skull and the brain tissue are damaged.
3. Intracranial hematomas. They result from the rupture of blood vessels, after which blood spills into the spaces between the membranes of the brain or directly into brain tissue.
4. Skull fractures, of the vault and the base. The most favorable are linear fractures of the vault, a crack in the bone without damage to brain tissue. Penetrating fractures, in which bone fragments damage brain tissue, are the least favorable.

Types of TBI

A broader classification divides all of the above conditions into two large groups:

• Open injuries: the skull is damaged to some degree, the brain may or may not be affected, but in any case the membranes of the brain are in contact with the external environment, and therefore the risk of infection is increased.
• Closed injuries: the skull is intact and the integrity of the soft tissues is not compromised.

Hematomas are not common in children, and the younger the child, the lower the likelihood. In infants, a hematoma is indicated by anemia and increased intracranial pressure, accompanied by frequent regurgitation, increased anxiety, and a tense fontanelle.

TBI treatment standards require bed rest and emotional calm for a certain period. Parents sometimes find these recommendations unimportant. Why follow them if the child looks healthy, active, and cheerful? Because the child's condition returns to normal 3-4 days sooner than the damage to tissue and the disturbances in brain function fully resolve. Returning to usual activities can lead to overtiredness and an increase in intracranial pressure due to overload that the organ is not yet able to handle. This complicates the treatment of traumatic brain injury in children in Kyiv and can lead to unpleasant symptoms in the future.

At CSM Clinic, before rehabilitation begins, doctors carry out a thorough diagnostic assessment to evaluate the depth and severity of the changes. Based on the results, they select a therapy plan from specialized hardware-based technologies and methods, which aims to minimize the consequences of the injury. Our specialists note that therapy tends to work better the less time has passed since the injury, so call and book an appointment with a doctor now.

Sources

• Journal "Acute and Emergency Conditions in a Doctor's Practice"
• Ukrainian Wikipedia