What Is a Traumatic Brain Injury? Understanding the 3 Types
In this video, Steven Flanagan, MD, explains what a concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI) is and the difference between a mild, moderate, and severe TBI.
Emergency rooms in the United States saw about 2.5 million visits related to traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The most common cause of TBIs that led to emergency department visits, by far, was unintentional falls.
However, the millions of emergency room visits for TBI look very different from case to case. There’s a wide range in severity of TBI, resulting in different symptoms, treatment, and prognoses.
- Steven Flanagan, MDDr. Flanagan is the chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Langone Health. He specializes in brain injury rehabilitation.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Potential effects of a moderate or severe TBI.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). TBI-related emergency department (ED) visits.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Traumatic brain injury & concussion.
UpToDate. (2023). Traumatic brain injury: epidemiology, classification, and pathophysiology.