brain damage

Injury to the brain that is caused by various conditions, such as head trauma, inadequate oxygen supply, infection, or intracranial hemorrhage, and that may be associated with a behavioral or functional abnormality.

brain′-dam′aged (-dăm′ĭjd) adj.

brain damage

A term applied more often to the physically subtle, but functionally serious, injury sustained from temporary oxygen and sugar deprivation, than to gross and obvious injury from direct violence. Brain damage also commonly results from sudden local haemorrhage or THROMBOSIS, causing STROKE, and from toxic substances especially alcohol. Bacterial toxins released in the course of meningitis and brain abscess and inflammation caused by viruses are also damaging. Diseases such as multiple sclerosis can cause brain damage, as can the repeated multiple small haemorrhages sustained in boxing. Brain damage often affects the areas of higher function in a patchy way with loss of certain functions and retention of others. There may be paralysis and loss of sensation on one side of the body, epileptic fits, speech disturbances or loss of word comprehension (APHASIA), loss of certain learned voluntary skills (APRAXIA), or loss of part of the field of vision. Alternatively, brain damage may have a diffuse effect causing, in addition to focal effects, interference with conscious thought, memory and judgement. Loss of memory (amnesia) is a common feature. A proportion of brain-damaged people end up in a state of almost complete loss of the higher mental functions (AMENTIA).

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

Patient discussion about brain damage

Q. I was wondering the rate at which alcohol induces brain damage. I am not an alcoholic and I use to drink only on weekends. I was wondering the rate at which alcohol induces brain damage; I know that over some years, damage occurs, but does anything happen after a month of drinking on weekends?

A. HI WAYLON;just want to add my two cents here,EVERYTIME YOU TAKE A DRINK IT KILLS BRAIN CELL,I CANT TILL YOU HOW MANY---mrfoot56

Q. What damage does depression do to the brain and how can you treat it? How does it affect your chemical balance, your brain? Is it critical or will be critical later in life? I just read on Yahoo News that Clinical stress could increase risk of Alzheimer's later in life. Does age matter like during teen years? I had depression and begun running. I noticed that I have a hard time focusing and absorbing information. I forgot a lot of things. All my brain seems to focus on is emotions. Can I change that? The running has made me feel a lot better afterwards

A. This is actually a good question- but I couldn’t find any research concerning long term damage from depression. It sounds unreasonable though…because there is no deprivation of oxygen or anything essential in depression. But the brain is a biological system that is under constant change – so it may be that pattern of thought changed. About the Alzheimer's- I only saw articles about depression because of Alzheimer.

More discussions about brain damage

This content is provided by iMedix and is subject to iMedix Terms. The Questions and Answers are not endorsed or recommended and are made available by patients, not doctors.

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

The charity was set up by Pat Llewellyn, of Coundon, shortly after the birth of her daughter Alison who was brain-damaged after receiving medication.

Charity celebrates30 years

But his supporters said his first trial was unfair because it was not revealed he was brain-damaged by beatings from his abusive father, who refused to get him medical help for skull injuries.

Amnesty anger as Briton is executed in the US

Mrs Schiavo, 41, has been brain-damaged since a 1990 collapse.

Lifeline for coma girl

The researchers examined 10 patients in whom brain damage had blocked much language understanding, 10 brain-damaged individuals with no language problems, and 58 healthy adults.

Emotional gain after verbal loss

TRAGIC Adrian Parkes was awarded pounds 2.65million yesterday - for an operation that left him brain-damaged 32 years ago.

pounds 2.6m for 1969 op

Of the nearly 2,000 brain-damaged people who have been studied by cognitive neuroscientists at the University of Iowa College of Medicine in Iowa City, a handful have exhibited curiously fine-grained gaps in their knowledge about the world.

Creatures in the brain: various concepts may emanate from separate cerebral niches

A BRAIN-DAMAGED girl who was treated with potentially lethal sheep cell injections later walked for the first time, a court heard yesterday.

Our girl got better after sheep cell jabs; MUM SAYS SHE'D DO IT AGAIN

The other brain-damaged patients recalled far less and performed on a par with seven healthy adults given the objects without having seen the demonstrations.

Conscious memories may emerge in infants

ELEVEN brain-damaged children could have died after being injected with animal cells, a court heard yesterday.

Kids got animal jag claim

Numerical distinctions between sets of one or a few items may still play a role in the type of quantification displayed by these brain-damaged patients, holds Karen Wynn, a psychologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Small amounts go down for the count

A FRIEND of the 26-year-old man fighting for his life in hospital after being hit by a police plastic bullet at Drumcree has spoken of her heartache at learning he may be brain-damaged.

Bullet man is fighting for his life

For clues, they turn to brain-damaged or autistic individuals, whose conditions leave them socially detached and unable to interact normally with people.

Comprehending those who can't relate: researchers seek the neurobiological roots of our social side