Study finds even mild injury can cause brain damage

Study finds even mild injury can cause brain damage

9:13pm Wednesday 16th July 2014 in News

EVEN mild traumatic brain injury may cause thinking and memory problems, according to new research by North-East academics.

The study, carried out by Newcastle University and published in the American journal Neurology, saw 44 people with a mild traumatic brain injury and nine people with a moderate traumatic brain injury compared to 33 people with no brain injury.

The patients, who had all been treated by the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, had suffered various accidents, including falling from bicycles with no helmet, falling from ladders doing jobs around the home, slipping and falling while just going about their daily life, being involved in motor vehicle accidents or being assaulted.

They needed hospital attention but were treated and discharged either on the day of their injury or following a few days of observation and treatment in hospital.

All participants were tested on their thinking and memory skills. At the same time, they had a type of MRI scan that is better at detecting damage to brain cells.

The people with brain injuries had their scans an average of six days after they suffered the injury. A year later, 23 of those with injuries had another scan and took the cognitive tests again.

Compared to the people with no brain injury, those with injuries had damage to white brain matter which consisted of disruption to nerve axons, the parts of nerve cells that allow brain cells to transmit messages to each other.

The study found that patient scores on the verbal letter fluency task, a test of thinking and memory skills, were 25 per cent lower than in the healthy people. This was strongly related to the imaging measures of white matter damage.

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Study finds even mild injury can cause brain damage