Traumatic Brain Injury severity is commonly described as Mild, Moderate, or Severe. Injury severity is traditionally based on duration of loss of consciousness and/or coma rating scale or score, post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), and brain imaging results. Mild, Moderate, and Severe TBI may be characterized as follows:
Mild TBI
Brief loss of consciousness, usually a few seconds or minutes
PTA for less than 1 hour of the TBI
Normal brain imaging results
Moderate TBI
Loss of consciousness for 1 – 24 hours
PTA for 1 – 24 hours of the TBI
Abnormal brain imaging results
Severe TBI
Loss of consciousness or coma for more than 24 hours
PTA for more than 24 hours of the TBI
Abnormal brain imaging results
Severe TBI may be further sub-categorized as follows:
Coma- a state of unconsciousness from which the individual cannot be awakened
Vegetative State- a state in which an individual is not in a coma (i.e. awakes) but is not aware of the environment
Persistent Vegetative State- a Vegetative State that has lasted for more than a month
Minimally Responsive State- a state in which a person with a severe TBI is no longer in a coma or vegetative state and inconsistently interacts with/responds to the environment.
Severity of TBI
Mild, Moderate, and Severe TBI
Traumatic Brain Injury severity is commonly described as Mild, Moderate, or Severe. Injury severity is traditionally based on duration of loss of consciousness and/or coma rating scale or score, post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), and brain imaging results. Mild, Moderate, and Severe TBI may be characterized as follows:
Severe TBI may be further sub-categorized as follows:-
Coma- a state of unconsciousness from which the individual cannot be awakened
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Vegetative State- a state in which an individual is not in a coma (i.e. awakes) but is not aware of the environment
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Persistent Vegetative State- a Vegetative State that has lasted for more than a month
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Minimally Responsive State- a state in which a person with a severe TBI is no longer in a coma or vegetative state and inconsistently interacts with/responds to the environment.