The reality of traumatic brain injuries

Written by: Dr James Teo
Published: | Updated: 03/02/2020
Edited by: Bronwen Griffiths

Traumatic brain injuries are when a head injury causes damage to the brain. Brain injuries can be very serious, and must be dealt with by a specialist. Dr James Teo, a leading neurologist, explains how traumatic brain injuries are dealt with and treated.

What are the most common causes of traumatic brain injury?

The most common causes of traumatic brain injuries are road traffic accidents and sports-related injuries

How is a traumatic brain injury diagnosed?

The presence of any loss of consciousness and amnesia is suggestive of a traumatic brain injury, and requires a brain scan. In an emergency situation, CT-head scans are used to make a diagnosis, but for more subtle and delayed damage, MRI-scans can provide better diagnoses.

How are mild traumatic brain injuries treated?

Common symptoms experienced with post-concussion syndrome, a mild form of brain injury, include:

  • Memory usually suffers for several weeks.
  • Poor attention span
  • Dizziness
  • Disrupted sleep cycle
  • Migraine

To recover from a mild brain injury, often time and extended bed rest are needed. Certain medications can help to some degree, but only in suppressing the symptoms to allow recovery to occur. The length of time needed to recover from a concussion is often under-estimated, and recovery can often take from weeks to several months. 

How are severe traumatic brain injuries treated?

For more severe traumatic brain injuries, emergency surgery is sometimes necessary with supportive intensive care like ventilators, prolonged anaesthesia, body cooling being needed. 

Often there will be many weeks or even months of unconsciousness or amnesia and controlled environments are needed to contain the patient. After the acute period, extended multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation is necessary comprising of specialist medical, nursing, neuropsychologists, neuropsychiatrists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists. 

Brain injuries also often do not occur in isolation, and there is often body trauma, so multiple specialists and different surgeons are needed for different parts of the body.

In summary, severe brain injuries are a complex medical problem that only experienced specialists working in large units with multiple disciplines can handle adequately. The recovery and rehabilitation can take months to years.

What advancements have been made in the management and care of traumatic brain injuries?

The development of assistive communication technology allows communication with patients with impaired abilities to speak. More advanced technologies include special functional brain scans and brain recordings which can detect awareness and consciousness in an apparently comatose patient. These technologies allow us to provide more accurate assessments of patients who are unable to tell us how they feel or their wishes.


If you or a loved one needs to see a neurologist, make an appointment now.

By Dr James Teo
Neurology

Dr James Teo is a distinguished consultant neurologist based in central London, specialising in movement disorders, Parkinson's disease and stroke, with additional expertise in traumatic brain injury, brain MRI, and neurorehabilitation. Patients can trust in Dr Teo's extensive experience and dedication to providing exceptional care tailored to their individual needs.

In his private practice, Dr Teo consults at the Cleveland Clinic London Rehabilitation Unit, offering personalised and comprehensive neurology services. His NHS base is King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, where he continues to make significant contributions to patient care and clinical research as a Professor of Neurology and Director of Data Science and AI (also at Guys & St Thomas Hospitals). He works as a group and the patient will be assessed upon their appointment request, triaged by the group and seen by the best specialist in the group according to their problem.

Dr Teo is widely recognised for his ground breaking research contributions, having authored over 50 peer-reviewed academic papers on various neurological topics, including Parkinson's disease and stroke. His pioneering work in wearable patches for stroke prevention, as demonstrated in the EPACS trial, highlights his commitment to advancing neurology care and treatment options.

As a director for Data Science and Health AI at Kings College Hospital and Guys & St Thomas Hospitals, Dr Teo leads innovative initiatives aimed at harnessing technology to improve patient outcomes and healthcare delivery. His achievements in this field have been acknowledged with prestigious awards, and his work with Cogstack was awarded an NHSX award and named in Parliament as a NHS flagship technology. 

Dr Teo is a respected member of several professional organisations, including the Royal College of Physicians, Association of British Neurologists, European Stroke Organisation and Movement Disorders Society.

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