Journal of Dementia
Open Access

Dementia is caused by the loss or damage of the nerve cells and connections in the brain. Dementia also depends on the part of the brain that is damaged; the symptoms depend on the part of the brain that is damaged. The symptoms can be different in all the dementia patients. Dementia is different depending on the symptoms. There are other diseases which have similar symptoms like Dementia, ie vitamin deficiencies or medicine reactions which can solved with treatment.

The main causes of Traumatic Dementia are falls, struck by vehicles, vehicle clashes which results in the Emergency departments. Other accidents like battlefield explosions which jolt the brain within the skull can also cause traumatic brain injury. Bullet wounds that enter the brain can also cause Traumatic dementia which may result in long lasting effects and serious problems.

Symptoms may not show immediately after the injury or accident may appear after a week or few days. Mild traumatic injury may have temporary symptoms which may last a few hours, days, weeks or a month. Sometimes it may take longer time.

Moderate traumatic brain injury may because unconsciousness can be for few hours and less than 24 hours. Severe Traumatic brain injury causes unconsciousness for more than 24 hours. Symptoms of mild traumatic injury, moderate traumatic injury and severe traumatic injury have almost same symptoms but the effects can be longer and sometimes serious.

In all types of traumatic brain injury, cognitive changes are most common, long-lasting are resulted directly from the injury. Learning new information and remembering is often affected. Other cognitive skills affected are organizing thoughts, paying attention, planning strategies for tasks and activities and making right judgments. Though the person appears to have recovered from the injury immediately, the symptoms may appear after years.

When Traumatic brain injury is progressed it may result in Alzheimer’s or other dementias. These dementias affect the quality of life, reduce the life span and affect our ability to deal with our health conditions.

If the injury is serious it may require specialized hospital care or inpatient rehabilitation for a few months. Most of the injuries are mild and can be treated with short hospital stay and can be managed at home if the patient can be monitored all the time.

The treatment for dementia varies according to the injury and severity and the type of dementia diagnosed. The treatment for all types of dementia is almost same whether is caused with or without injury.

Alzheimer’s and dementia have similar symptoms and affect the person’s quality of life, may shorten the life span, ability to manage health. The symptoms worsen with passing time and the person need to be monitored and taken care to perform daily activities efficiently. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is the new area researchers and scientist are concentrating on, but guidelines to manage the condition are not yet found. Research initiatives are under way to gain insight into the injury effects on brain and changes in the pattern because of the injury. Researches are under way to diagnose, prevent and treat the problem.

For Traumatic brain injury diagnosis person’s history, loss of consciousness is considered, a detailed neurological examination, imaging studies help a lot. To identify the person’s dementia the most sensitive means is Neuropsychological test. It is done by a specialist in child Psychology and testing is done using clinical rating scales to identify subtle cognitive issues. This test also helps in knowing the changes over time.