Injury Location Appears to Affect Skills

Past Studies

Past Studies show that the location of the injury in the brain may be useful in predicting the outcome from a traumatic brain injury. Injuries to the front and sides of the brain ( fronto-temporal brain lobes) are a common site of injury. These portions of the brain are responsible for complex thought processing. Termed “executive functions,” these tasks include planning, goal setting, control of behavior, and the ability to think about one thing and then another with ease or many things at once. Executive functions also include the ability to remember new things necessary for learning. Small studies show that injury location can affect executive functioning. Studies are lacking about the relationship between injury location and community integration.

This study

This study included the analysis of Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems data for 643 similar individuals with traumatic brain injury. The individuals participated in inpatient rehabilitation at the multiple Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems facilities. The researchers divided the individuals into four groups according to the injury location in their brains. The injury locations included the front part of the brain (frontal lobes), front and side locations ( fronto-temporal lobes), and non-frontal areas. The fourth group consisted of participants that had traumatic brain injury, but whose CT scans did not show wounds in the brain. The individual’s executive functioning skills were measured initially and one year from their injury dates with standard evaluations. At one year after their injury date, the individuals and their significant others provided information about functional abilities and community integration.The researchers found that initially, the individuals with injuries in the front and side areas of their brains had the worst executive functioning skills. However, this group performed better on visual perceptual tasks than those that had injuries in the back of their brains (parietal and occipital lobes) where visual processing primarily occurs. At one year after injury, the groups had equal executive functioning skills and equal levels of community integration. Further, the researchers found that the groups made improvements equally over the course of one year.

Who May Be Affected By These Findings

Individuals with traumatic brain injury and their significant others, rehabilitation personnel, researchers.

Caveats

The results of this study are the same as previous studies. This study shows that test scores improve with rehabilitation and suggests that injury location should be considered when planning treatments.

Bottom Line

This study showed that the injury location in the brain affects thought processing and behavior more initially than one year after traumatic brain injury. Individuals with injuries to the front and side parts of their brains experienced the most difficulty with executive functions initially. At one year after injury, the groups had equal executive functioning skills and equal levels of community integration.

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