What are the types of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs)?

The severity of the head injury is determined by several different factors, such as loss of consciousness, certain neurological symptoms that happened at the time of the injury, loss of memory for the injury and time surrounding it, and abnormalities on head CT or brain MRI.

There are several different types and grades of TBI:

• Mild concussion (mTBI):

  What is a mild traumatic brain injury? This type of injury is often referred to as a concussion. Mild head injury symptoms include (not a full list!):

• Headaches

• Fatigue

• Nausea

• Slurred speech

• Trouble paying attention

• Remembering information

• Mood changes

• Light sensitivity

  Some symptoms may happen immediately after the injury or within days/weeks following the injury. Concussions are the most common type of TBI. Three out of 4 TBIs every year are concussions. These mTBIs can include brief alterations of consciousness such as feeling “dazed” or loss of consciousness for less than 30 minutes.

• Moderate-Severe TBI:

  A moderate TBI is related with loss of consciousness for over 30 minutes but less than one day. Individuals with a severe TBI lose consciousness for over one full day. These injuries are typically associated with changes on head CT or brain MRI. A moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, may have the same signs and symptoms as a mild injury. But there can also be extra symptoms that show up in the first few hours to days after the injury.

  Moderate-Severe TBI Symptoms include (not a full list!):

• Ongoing headaches or headache that gets worse

• Repeated vomiting or nausea

• Seizures

• Visual changes

• Loss of coordination

• Extreme confusion

• Agitation, combativeness or other unusual behavior

• Intense cognitive, speech, and language impairments