Brain injury : [BI]
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Brain injury : [BI] · Jul 2003
Problem-solving by traumatically brain injured and neurologically intact subjects on an adaptation of the twenty questions test.
RAPS (Rapid Assessment of Problem-Solving) is a clinical measure for assessing verbal problem-solving in hard-to-test patients or those that may not be able to tolerate a longer, more detailed assessment. The design of the test is based on Mosher and Hornsby's Twenty Question test, but RAPS contains several modifications to facilitate its use with brain-injured individuals. This study used RAPS to compare the verbal problem-solving ability of subjects that were neurologically intact and subjects that had chronic traumatic brain injuries. ⋯ Two meta-cognitive functions, planning and strategy shifting, appeared to explain most of the differences in the verbal problem-solving performance between the groups. Both groups, however, demonstrated a range of abilities on RAPS. Until a larger normative database for RAPS is available, it behooves clinicians using the test to analyse results on an individual basis, to consider the subject's pre-morbid problem-solving ability and to weigh those factors associated with brain injury that could affect RAPS performance.
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Brain injury : [BI] · Jul 2003
The relationship between pre-hospital and emergency department Glasgow coma scale scores.
Pre-hospital GCS scores are used to make critical patient care decisions and to fill in gaps in hospital-based TBI surveillance, but they may not be accurate. ⋯ EMS-GCS is usually two points lower than ED-GCS, but the correlation between them is strong and independent of the time between score determinations. These results could prevent unnecessary procedures based on the EMS-GCS and improve the accuracy of TBI surveillance.
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Brain injury : [BI] · Mar 2003
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyPresence of post-concussion syndrome symptoms in patients with chronic pain vs mild traumatic brain injury.
Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a controversial diagnosis, in part because many symptoms may be present in other conditions, such as chronic pain (CP). However, direct comparisons between people with CP and mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) are limited. The purpose of this study was to compare people with CP and MTBI on a measure of PCS symptoms. ⋯ PCS symptoms are not unique to MTBI, and may be seen in conditions such as CP.
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Brain injury : [BI] · Jan 2003
Understanding outcomes based on the post-acute hospitalization pathways followed by persons with traumatic brain injury.
To identify the factors that determine the pathways of care people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) follow after acute care discharge, and to identify differences in outcome based on those pathways. ⋯ Of concern are the relatively large numbers of people receiving no rehabilitation and other services in all severity categories. Those in LTC--typically older and government funded people--reported the poorest outcomes. Unanswered questions remain relating to the poor perceived quality of life reported by those completing rehabilitation programmes. Further study is also needed to more fully understand the affects of such characteristics as gender, minority status, employment and funding sources on the care pathway that is followed.
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The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of olfactory dysfunction after mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). Damage to the olfactory bulbs or frontal cortex has been reported in MTBI, but olfactory dysfunction after MTBI has not been studied in a prospective way before. ⋯ Although a high prevalence of olfactory dysfunction was found, no correlation was found between olfactory dysfunction and acute parameters of MTBI.