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Suffering a Traumatic Brain Injury in Your Lake Worth, Florida Car Accident

In litigation, brain injuries are often divided into two categories: obvious and subtle.  Obvious brain injuries are those that show clear evidence of injury via imaging.  These may include intraparenchymal injuries within the brain itself or intracranial which are outside the brain but inside the skull.  Intaparenchymal injuries are hemorrhage, contusion or edema wtihin the brain matter. Intracranial are injuries within the skull but not within the brain matter and are usually hemorrhage or hematoma. Injuries within and around the brain are often describes as being associated with mass effect.

Mass effect is important because it means a particular injury is serious enough to affect other and adjacent areas of the brain.  Mass effect is usually evident in the form of a decrease in size of the the ventricles adjacent to the primary area of injury. Meaning that an injury to one side of the brain is so bad it cause compression on the other side of the brain.  Mass effect may also cause brain herniation. Transtentoral or uncal herniation is important because the brain stem in this area is responsible for heart rate and breathing.  Compression by herniated brain tissue could result in death.

Subtle brain injuries are those that are barely visible or not visible via traditional imaging.  They are typically referred to as shear or diffuse axonal injuries.

Understanding the medical terminology and significance of different categories of brain injuries is critical for you and your Palm Beach County personal injury lawyer.  The nature and extent of your injury, the long-term effects, pain and suffering, etc. are all factors that determine both your Lake Worth accident attorney and the insurance company will look when examining your damages and entitlements.