Acquired Brain Injury
“An acquired brain injury (ABI) is an injury to the brain that is not hereditary, congenital, degenerative, or induced by birth trauma”
Causes of Acquired Brain Injury
Brain injuries can have traumatic and non-traumatic causes. Traumatic injuries refer to injuries caused by an outside force whereas non-traumatic injuries are caused by an internal factor. Some examples of acquired brain injury causes include:
Closed head injury in which the skull remains intact such as a fall or sports injury
Open head injury in which the skull is penetrated such as an injury caused by a weapon
Anoxia or hypoxia caused by a lack of oxygen going to the brain such as in a near-drowning incident or a heart attack
Infections causing an encephalitis
Brain tumor causing damage internally to the brain
Ischemic or hemorraghic stroke
Seizures
Surgical interventions such as resections or ablations can result in damage to the brain
Incidence of Acquired Brain Injury
In the United States, data on incidence rates of acquired brain injury generally look at specific subtypes of injury. Because these subtypes are not typically grouped together as a whole, it is difficult to get a clear picture of how prevalent these injuries are. The CDC reports that in 2013 there were 2.8 million TBI cases in the United States and that there are 800,000 stroke cases annually. The same data is not necessarily reported for other types of ABI, giving us an incomplete picture. For example, not every infection, tumor, or surgical procedure may result in damage to the brain and therefore we do not have as robust a data set on those that do. However, despite not having a complete data set, it is clear that there are a large number of individuals within the United States experiencing an acquired brain injury.
Areas of Impact
Following a brain injury, a person may present with physical, cognitive, and social/emotional deficits. Every injury is different, and so each patient may need a differing course of care to treat their individual needs. This is true even in instances of similar mechanisms of injury impacting similar parts of the brain in patients who are demographically similar – despite having very similar injuries on paper, they might have entirely different deficits and outcomes.
Role of Speech Language Pathologist
A speech-language pathologist’s (SLP) role in seeing a patient following a brain injury can vary significantly depending on the needs of the patient. A speech language pathologist’s scope of practice includes speech, language, cognitive communication, voice, fluency, feeding/swallowing, social communication, and augmentative and alternative communication and depending on the injury, one or many of these areas may be addressed. In cases of more severe injury, such as a patient presenting with a Disorder of Consciousness (DoC), an SLP may work on arousal, awareness, and functional responsiveness. In cases in which a patient presents with higher level deficits, an SLP may work on executive functioning, problem solving, and reasoning abilities. Patients with aphasia may work with an SLP to improve word finding and language organization. Additionally, SLPs provide education and support to patients and their families regarding their injury and recovery.
About the Author
Brynn Schor, MS, CCC-SLP, CBIS (founder of Peninsula Specialty Speech Therapy, based in Menlo Park, California) specializes in assessment and treatment of cognitive communication deficits and executive function coaching for pediatric patients in the Bay Area and across California. Consultations provided worldwide.
