A head injury is any trauma that leads to injury of the scalp, skull, or brain. The injuries can range from minor to serious brain injury and can be caused by a range of factors including impact to the head known as closed or open head injury, asphyxia, stroke or other neurotoxic affect.

Symptoms of brain injury are generally associated with loss of consciousness, amnesia and concussion or post-concussive symptoms. Concussion can include nausea, dizziness, vomiting, unequal pupils, confused mental state or varying levels of consciousness, seizure-like activity, and weakness on one side of the body or the inability to wake up (coma). Other symptoms may include excessive sleepiness, seizures, paralysis, speech and language problems, inattention, difficulty concentrating, impaired memory, faulty judgment, depression, irritability, changes in personality, severe head ache, emotional outbursts, disturbed sleep, diminished libido, difficulty switching between two tasks, and slowed thinking.

More gross physical disturbances can be observed on imaging scans such as MRI or CT. However, radiological studies such as MRI and CAT are not always sensitive to the detection of diffuse organic cerebral damage such as shearing type injuries and reliance on such can result in misdiagnosis of organic brain damage (Duncan et al., 2005; Gaetz & Bernstein, 2001; Gaetz & Weinberg, 2000; Gaetz, 2002; Garnett et al., 2000; Hoffman et al., 1995; Inglese et al., 2005; Thatcher et al., 1989; 1998).

Generally, improvements in neuropsychological and psychophysiological function are only seen in the first 12 months post brain injury (Dikmen et al., 1990; Lannoo et al., 2001; Millis et al., 2001) . However, despite the majority of patients reaching full recovery within 12 months, mild head injury is not always a mild experience (Bernstein, 1999; Hofman et al., 2002; Iverson, 2005) , and axonal injury is common feature of mild, moderate, and severe head injury (Fitzpatrick et al., 1998; Maxwell et al., 1997). The process of axonal injury is not necessarily immediate and can be delayed for up to 24 hours (Fitzpatrick et al., 1998; Maxwell et al., 1997; Povlishock, 1992).

The severity of one's injury does not always predict the actual severity and long lasting affect of the damage. Post-accident medical measures do not always predict the short and long term outcome of significant neuropsychological impairment, and this can be attributed to substantial organic factors, as opposed to a purely psychiatric basis (Binder, 1997; Gaetz & Weinberg, 2000; Iverson et al., 2000; King, 1996; Lovell et al., 1999) . Studies show that the clinical outcome of mild brain injury is frequently worse than might be predicted using conventional imaging methods, and patients can show long-term and severe disability (Barth et al., 1983; Binder, 1986; Deb et al., 1998; Gaetz & Weinberg, 2000; King, 1996; King, 2003).

Therefore, individuals who have suffered head injury are encouraged to obtain a thorough assessment as that which is provided by brain profiling.

When cognitive deficits are noted up to 5 years after injury they are more likely to be seen in the areas of memory functioning, attention, and processing speed (Deshpande et al., 1996; Millis et al., 2001; Ponsford et al., 1995; Tate et al., 1991) , in addition to marked impairment of reasoning and problem solving skills, even 5 years after injury (Deshpande et al., 1996; Millis et al., 2001) . As a result, many patients do not return to their premorbid level of functioning and are at increased risk for disabling and permanent impairment (Dikmen et al., 2003), and often permanent loss of employability (Ponsford et al., 1995) .

In addition to providing a comprehensive assessment of traumatic brain injury, Brain Profiling can also recommend appropriate treatment and therapies that go beyond that which is provided by traditional medical and rehabilitation teams.

	Read and find out more about our treatment options for brain injury .
	Read about our personalized medicine approach for brain injury.
	Read some of our case examples on brain injury.
	Look at some of our scientific publications on brain injury.

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Duncan, CC, Kosmidis, MH, and Mirsky, AF (2005). Closed head injury-related information processing deficits: An event-related potential analysis. International Journal of Psychophysiology , 58 (2-3), 133-157.

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Iverson, GL, Lovell, MR, and Smith, SS (2000). Does Brief Loss of Consciousness Affect Cognitive Functioning After Mild Head Injury? Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology , 15 (7), 643-648.

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Thatcher, RW, Biver, C, McAlaster, R, Camacho, M, and Salazar, A (1998). Biophysical Linkage between MRI and EEG Amplitude in Closed Head Injury. NeuroImage , 7 (4), 352-367.