Our Chicago brain injury attorneys have long known that traumatic brain injury is among the most devastating of injuries: it can severely damage the victim’s cognitive abilities while simultaneously leaving his personality altered and his emotional state destroyed. Yet many traumatic brain injuries are undiagnosed or undertreated due to the difficulty in finding evidence of these injuries on medical imaging (such as CT scans).

Now, new information is allowing doctors and researchers to better understand the nature of traumatic brain injuries – including how they occur physically, and how they cause the damage they do. Scientists are now learning that these injuries literally crumple the axons in the brain – the component which transmits signals between neurons in the brain. Traumatic brain injuries also gum up the neurons through the formation of strings of proteins known as tau, an effect similar to that in Alzheimer’s disease, and strangle or destroy blood vessels within the brain.

Indeed, once researchers knew what to look for, they found that the effects of a traumatic brain injury are so severe that it looks as though the brain is “eating itself alive.” However, these problems still remain invisible to traditional CT and MRI imaging – the injuries must be viewed with a microscope or, ideally, an electron microscope. These researchers hope that their new knowledge of the physical nature of traumatic brain injury will help to get such injuries properly diagnosed, and to develop new, better treatments.

Left untreated, these effects can lead to the condition colloquially known as “boxer’s dementia,” characterized by decreased judgment, memory loss, uncontrollable temper, aggression, depression, and poor impulse control. And, although the condition is often thought of as linked to older victims, such as retired boxers, the researchers found these effects, amounting to boxer’s dementia from traumatic brain injury, in victims as young as seventeen years of age.

Nor are these effects confined to the victims of a single, severe injury such as an IED blast or a car accident. Recent research has also found similar effects in those who have sustained repeated, but very minor, traumatic brain injuries (minor hits to the head or mild concussions).

Our experienced brain injury attorneys are pleased to see this new wave of research documenting the very physical damage that occurs in a traumatic brain injury. We are confident that this new research will help in diagnosis and treatment – and will also help the victims of traumatic brain injury to convince skeptical jury members that their debilitating, life-devastating injuries are very, very real.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago brain injury lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.

Much of the United States was shaken last week by the announcement that Representative Gabrielle Giffords was to resign from the United States Congress. Rep. Giffords announced that her resignation would allow her to focus on recovery from the massive brain injuries she suffered over a year ago.

Rep. Giffords, who represented a portion of Tucson, Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives, suffered these injuries at a public event held in Tucson last year. During the event, a lone gunman attacked her and the crowd, killing six people, including a federal judge. Fourteen others were wounded in the attack, including Rep. Giffords.

Prior to the shooting, Rep. Giffords served several terms in Congress, after first taking office in 2006.

In announcing her resignation, Rep. Giffords – who has been very public with her recovery efforts thus far – allowed even more of a glimpse into her ongoing struggles to overcome her brain injuries. She noted that she still has not regained her memories of the day the shooting occurred. Memory loss is a common symptom of traumatic brain injury.

Rep. Giffords stated that she’s getting better all the time, and that she hopes to someday return to public service. But she also noted that she has more “work to do” on her recovery, and that she believes that, based upon her current condition, it would be best for her state for her to step down.

Rep. Giffords’ decision reflects the situation faced by the victims of traumatic brain injury each and every day. While other injuries frequently have discrete, predictable recovery times, traumatic brain injuries are more unpredictable, taking from weeks to years to heal (when they do heal), and with no way to predict how long recovery will take.

Moreover, during the recovery period from other types of injuries, often accommodations can be made to allow the victim to continue to work. With traumatic brain injuries, however, victims can suffer not only from short and long-term memory problems, but also from the inability to perform other basic life functions necessary to their employment, such as speaking, reading, or writing. These difficulties can last indefinitely, or can be permanent.

Through her own example and her nationwide platform, Rep. Giffords has been working tirelessly to bring attention to the problems faced by the victims of traumatic brain injury. She has been very public with her own struggles and, in December, hosted a town hall discussion of traumatic brain injury led by experts in the field. Our brain injury attorneys applaud her efforts, and wish her the best of luck as she continues to work towards a complete recovery.

For a free consultation with an experienced Chicago brain injury lawyer at Passen Law Group, call us at (312) 527-4500.