User:Xanima/Acceleration/Deceleration Trauma

Head and Neck Trauma

Acceleration/deceleration trauma occurs when the body is in motion and strikes or contacts another moving or stationary object. This impact results in a change or a complete stop of motion for the body, which can cause stretching and/or tearing of body tissues

A/D Trauma is the most common form of CHI, or Closed head injury.

A closed head injury can cause several different types of brain injury, including acceleration-deceleration trauma, rotational trauma, coup contre-coup, and molecular commotion. Love and Webb (1992) report that the most predominant CHI injury type is acceleration-deceleration trauma. Acceleration-deceleration trauma causes discrete lesions which affect only certain areas of the brain.

Acceleration-deceleration trauma occurs when the head is accelerated and then stopped suddenly, as in a car accident, and causes specific, focal lesions to two opposing areas of the brain. The brain will suffer contusions at the point of direct impact (result of acceleration) and at the site directly opposite the point of impact (result of deceleration) due to the oscillation of the brain within the skull.

These injuries are similar to coup (site of contact) and contre-coup (opposite site of contact) damage, respectively. They differ in that acceleration-deceleration trauma results from the oscillation (bouncing) of the brain against bony projections on the inside of the skull. It should be noted that brain injuries may occur as a result of acceleration-deceleration trauma unaccompanied by impact. For example, babies who are shaken may suffer acceleration-deceleration brain trauma (Generalli et al., 1982, in Chapey, 1994; Ylvisaker and Shirley, in Chapey, 1994).

The prefrontal areas and the anterior portion of the temporal lobes are the parts of the brain most often affected by acceleration-deceleration trauma. Thus, if the brain is repeatedly propelled against the front part of the skull, there is likely to be major injuries.

Rotational trauma occurs when impact causes the brain to move within the cranium at a different velocity than the skull. This results in a shearing of axons by the bones of the skull. Because this type of injury damages neural connections rather than gray matter, it can affect a wide array of cerebral functions and should therefore be considered a type of diffuse injury.

Molecular commotion according to Love and Webb (1992) is a disruption in the molecular structure of the brain which may cause permanent changes in both white and gray matter. This type of diffuse brain injury may occur in the absence of discrete lesions.