No parent ever imagines that they will have to find a pediatric brain surgeon for their child. However, when a traumatic brain injury occurs, the sooner the treatment is performed, the better. According to the Brain Injury Association of America (https://www.biausa.org/brain-injury/about-brain-injury/children-what-to-expect/incidence-of-brain-injury-in-children), around 37,000 children age 14 and under suffer a type of traumatic brain injury that requires hospitalization, and on an annual basis, nearly 3,000 children in this age group will die from a brain injury. Visiting a pediatric brain surgeon can help to prevent an adverse outcome.
Risk factors for traumatic brain injuries
According to the Center for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov), in children and adolescents, males are more prone than females when it comes to suffering from a brain injury. The reason for this statistic is thought to be that boys are more likely to participate in risky activities. The leading cause of brain injuries in children under the age of 4 was falling, while the leading cause of these injuries in older children was the passenger in a motor vehicle accident. Children with busy, stressed parents are more likely to experience a brain injury as well as children whose parents were younger when they were born. Most fatal traumatic brain injuries occur in children younger than two years of age and older than fifteen years of age. Brain injuries in children tend to increase in occurrence during the warmer months when children spend more time unsupervised outdoors.
Symptoms of possible brain injury in children
Since children, especially toddlers and infants, have developing brains, they are already less coordinated and more prone to fall or injury, so identifying a traumatic brain injury may be more challenging than it would be if it were an adult with the same injury. If a child experiences a fall, accident or a blow to the head and displays any of the following symptoms, a doctor specializing in brain injury should be seen immediately:
- Loss of consciousness
- Confusion
- Disorientation
- Dizziness
- Blurred vision
- Ringing in the ears
- Inability to smell
- Headache
- Nausea
- Drowsiness
- Inability to speak correctly or in sentences
- Irritability
- Persistent crying
- Change in eating habits
- Loss of balance
- Loss of memory
- Mood swings
- Seizures
- Loss of bladder control
- Fluid draining from facial orifices
- Nodding off or difficulty falling asleep
If the child is acting abnormally in any way following a head injury, it would be best to visit a doctor to make sure everything is okay. If a child experiences any head injury, even without representing any symptoms afterward, it is recommended that he or she be examined just in case.
Traumatic brain injury examination
During an examination following a head or brain injury, the doctor will test the patient’s ability to listen and follow instructions. The doctor will have the patient follow a light with their eyes, check the action of the pupils, test for the ability to move all limbs and, listen for slurred speech or incoherent talking. The patient will be questioned on how and when the injury occurred and may be given some imaging tests like a CT scan or MRI.
Once a simple examination takes place, the doctor will provide a diagnosis or offer to take more tests if he is unsure of the extent of the injury. If a traumatic brain injury is diagnosed, a pediatric brain surgeon may provide your child with the best and most effective treatment available in hopes of providing a full recovery.
For more information or to schedule an appointment with Dr. William G. Loudon, Pediatric Neurosurgery, request an appointment in our Orange dental office here: https://www.drloudonpediatricneurosurgery.com. Or call us at (714) 677-9463.