Brain Injury Law Blog : Head Injury : Coma : Personal Injury : Las Vegas Nevada Lawyer & Attorney Tim Titolo

 Short Term Memory and Long Term Memory after Traumatic Brain Injury

If you or someone you know has suffered a traumatic brain injury, you may notice that they can remember things from a long time ago – like their birthday. You may also notice they do not remember what you just told them – like what to get at the supermarket. We all need to understand that traumatic brain injury often manifests with impairments to short term memory and not impairments to long term memory. Here is why.

“Memory” is your brain taking in, keeping, recalling, and using information. A brain injury can affect any of these areas of memory. A brain injury can also make it hard to learn and remember things.

Some people with brain injury have a hard time remembering past events such as a telephone message or conversation. It can also be hard to remember future events such as an appointment. People might forget things they need to do during the day. While everyone forgets some things sometimes, people with memory problems forget things more often. They may also forget specific types of information. Most times, long-time memories about family and childhood are not affected.

·       SHORT-TERM MEMORY

There's some variation in how people define short-term memory. I define it as the ability to remember something after 30 minutes. In a head injury, someone's immediate memory may be good, yet they may still have problems with short-term memory. Short term memory resides in a part of our brain that allows quick and immediate access. If you repeat the memory item enough you can move it that portion of your brain that stores information for long term memory. For instance, if you listen to a song long enough to memorize the words, you are on your way to storing it in long term memory. 

·       LONG-TERM MEMORY

Long-term memory is information that we recall after a day, two weeks, or ten years. For most head-injured people, their long-term memory tends to be good. Again using music, have you ever noticed how you remember the words to a song you listened to as a teenager when you suddenly hear it on the radio?

So it important, whether you are struggling with traumatic brain injury or are a loved one dealing with a spouse, friend, to understand the difference in remembering and using short term and long term memory. You can always read more about traumatic brain injury by visiting my Brain and Spine Injury Law Blog or Titolo Law Office website.

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The Lou Ruvo Las Vegas Medical Center, part of the Cleveland Clinic, will participate in a multi-center Alzheimer's Study.  

The study will be to advance early detection and treatment for Alzheimer's.  Dr. Kate Zhong, the senior director of clinical research and development at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, will direct a clinical trial aimed at finding an inexpensive blood test to detect Alzheimer's disease.

 The Las Vegas Review Journal revealed:

 The first multi-site clinical trial in the United States aimed at trying to identify Alzheimer's disease through an inexpensive blood test will be directed by researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health.

Currently the only definitive way to diagnose the disease is by direct examination of brain tissue after the patient dies.   This obviously does little to prevent the disease from advancing while the patient is alive.

Some experts have put the cost of a blood test at $200. Current sophisticated brain imaging costs $2,000 or more.

PAUL HARASIM reports

Last month, Robert Nagele, a professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey School of Osteopathic Medicine, said he developed a blood test that is more than 90 percent accurate at identifying antibodies in the blood specific to the disease.

Dementia is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases. Alzheimer's disease (AD), is one form of dementia that gradually gets worse over time. It affects memory, thinking, and behavior.

Memory impairment, as well as problems with language, decision-making ability, judgment, and personality, are necessary features for the diagnosis.

 Las Vegas Nevada Receives Attention as Serious Medical Research and Treatment Center

Since establishing the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Brain Injury Center in Las Vegas, the city is a viable contender with other national brain specialty centers.  Cleveland Clinic's Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health (CCLRCBH) provides state-of-the-art care for cognitive disorders and for the family members of those who suffer from them. The physicians and staff at the CCLRCBH are working towards:

• Early diagnosis
• Providing excellent care to patients
• Offering care for the caregivers
• Development of new, powerful treatment options

Another recent advance in brain health in Las Vegas is the union of Stanford University and St. Rose Hospital in the neurosurgery field.  This year , U.S. News & World Report named Stanford Hospital and Clinics one of the top 17 hospitals in America.

 Another Las Vegas Review Journal piece quotes Maureen Peckman's views on the new neurosurgery center:

Maureen Peckman, chief emerging business officer for the Cleveland Clinic, which oversees the operations and development of the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, welcomed the partnership.

"I think that any time our community can attract top-level medical partners in the valley, it's a boon for patient care, boon for raising quality, a boon for everyone engaged in health care in the community," she said.

It is wonderful to see Las Vegas diversifying itself as the great recession continues to swell.  The addition of quality medical facility alliances may be the silver lining to the City's failed reliance on the one industry it historically relied on.  This may be especially true for brain health.

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 Subdural Hematoma and Epidural Hematoma

We all have heard the terms subdural hematoma and epidural hematoma.  Whether we or someone we knew was injured in sports, or involved in a traumatic event, we’ve heard it.  But what does it all mean?

A subdural hematoma occurs when blood vessels between the brain and its outermost membrane rupture.  This causes blood to leak into that area which then causes compression of the brain tissue.  This will potentially damage the compressed tissue.  Chronic subdural hematoma may follow an episode of “mild” traumatic brain injury.  But please keep in mind that any injury to the brain, even if categorized as “mild” or “minor” can have devastating consequences for its victim.

An epidural hematoma, commonly referred to as an extradural hemorrhage, occurs when there is a rupture of a blood vessel, usually an artery, which then bleeds into the space between the "dura mater" and the skull. The affected vessels are often torn by skull fractures.  This is most often the result of a severe head injury, such as those caused by motorcycle or automobile accidents.

It is easiest to distinguish the two types of hematoma visually.  Note the epidural hematoma is blood between the skull and the outside of the membrane covering the brain (dura). A subdural hematoma is between the inside of the dura and the brain itself.

              The blood puts pressure on the space that the brain occupied causing the brain to be displaced.  If significant, the brain can be injured by the pressure.  That is why, many times, a portion of the skull is removed to allow extra room the brain to expand.  A craniotomy or craniectomy is such a procedure.  The procedure is very risky.

               I had a case where an 18 years olds brain began to swell after a bicycle injury.  The doctor saved him by removing part of his skull and storing it for a month while the brain swelling diminished.  The boy wore a helmet to protect his exposed brain and attended cognitive therapy for the month his skull was open.  All looked wonderful for my client since he made great strides in therapy.  He looked forward to being ready for the new college semester and playing guitar in his band.  Unfortunately, during the placement of his skull flap over the exposed brain, he developed a seizure and other complications.  As a result, he developed memory and cognitive impairments and a clawed right hand. Today he is not able to attend college or play his guitar.

               Well now you should be able to distinguish an epidural hematoma from a subdural hematoma.   You can always read more about traumatic brain injury by visiting my Brain and Spine Injury Law Blog or Titolo Law Office website.

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 I recently completed a book written by Dr. Antonio Damasio entitled Self Comes to Mind, Constructing the Conscious Brain published in 2010. You may have heard of Dr. Damasio’s previous books Descartes’ Error and  The Feeling of What Happens. He is the author of a number of books, including Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain," published in November, 2010.

Dr. Antonio Damasio is a renowned neuroscientist who directs the USC Brain and Creativity Institute. He was previously the Head of Neurology at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. His research focuses on the neurobiology of mind and behavior, emphasizing emotion, decision-making, memory, communication, and creativity. Dr. Damasio’s research helps describe the neurological origins of emotions and shows how emotions affect cognition and decision-making. Dr. Damasio is the 2010 winner of the Honda Prize, one of the most important international awards for scientific achievement.

In my continuing study of the brain, I left Self Comes to Mind refreshed with an intricate sense of biological treatment and yet deeply humanizing--real people with serious problems spring to life in the pages, but they are never reduced to their deficits. I found a thorough examination of interior life through lenses of research, medical cases, philosophical analysis, and unashamed introspection.

Publishers Weekly had this to say:

As he has done previously, USC neuroscientist Damasio (Descartes' Error) explores the process that leads to consciousness. And as he has also done previously, he alternates between some exquisite passages that represent the best popular science has to offer and some technical verbiage that few will be able to follow. He draws meaningful distinctions among points on the continuum from brain to mind, consciousness to self, constantly attempting to understand the evolutionary reasons why each arose and attempting to tie each to an underlying physical reality. Damasio goes to great lengths to explain that many species, such as social insects, have minds, but humans are distinguished by the "autobiographical self," which adds flexibility and creativity, and has led to the development of culture, a "radical novelty" in natural history. Damasio ends with a speculative chapter on the evolutionary process by which mind developed and then gave rise to self. In the Pleistocene, he suggests, humans developed emotive responses to shapes and sounds that helped lead to the development of the arts. Readers fascinated from both a philosophical and scientific perspective with the question of the relationships among brain, mind, and self will be rewarded for making the effort to follow Damasio's arguments.

Several interviews with Dr. Damasio can be viewed.  Several topics are available including:

How Memory Works

“Consciousness” is How We Know We Exist

How Our Brains Build Our Autobiographies

How Our Brains Feel Emotion

…and others.

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