Brain Trauma In Childhood

Unfortunately, head injuries are very common with children, accounting for approximately one hundred thousand hospitalizations annually. Modes of injury include motor vehicle accidents, bicycle accidents, falls, sporting injuries, and child abuse. Certain aspects of brain injury are unique to children. For example, it is more difficult to determine the measure the loss of brain function in a child. In adults there are prior academic records, I.Q. scores, and job histories to rely on. At one time it was assumed that children were more resistant to brain trauma than adults because their developing brains could rewire over time. However, mounting evidence seems to suggest otherwise. In fact, it may be that children are more susceptible than adults to permanent brain damage even when the forces involved are equivalent. …show more content…
Frontal lobe functions, for example, develop relatively late in a child's growth, so that injury to the frontal lobes may not become apparent until the child reaches adolescence as higher level reasoning develops. Since the frontal lobes control our social interactions and interpersonal skills, early childhood brain damage may not manifest until such frontal lobe skills are called into play later in development. Likewise, injury to reading and writing centers in the brain may not become apparent until the child reaches school age and shows signs of delayed reading and writing skills.
Maintaining vascular stability after head trauma can be a difficult feat in children. On occasion, a head injury can trigger a sudden dilation of all cerebral blood vessels, resulting in a massive influx of blood into the head. All the extra blood and associated cerebral edema it causes can raise intracranial pressure over the course of hours to fatal levels. These children seem normal after the accident but within a few hours lose consciousness as intracranial pressure