First aid

Head trauma

Most head trauma involves injuries that are modest and do not require hospital care. Nevertheless, call 911 or request emergency medical aid if any of the given signs are evident:

  • Serious head or facial bleeding
  • Bleeding from the nose or ears
  • Grievous head ache
  • Shift in degree of consciousness for more than a few seconds
  • Black-and-blue discolouration beneath the eyeballs or behind the auricles
  • Cessation of respiration
  • Mental confusion
  • Loss of equilibrium
  • Impuissance or an inability to use an upper or lower limb
  • Unequal pupil size
  • Recurrent regurgitation
  • Blurred speech
  • Ictuses

Common Causes:

Common causes of head trauma are road side accidents, household and workplace accidents, falls, and assaults. Bike accidents are also a primary cause of head injury-related death and impairment, particularly amongst kids.

If grievous head injury occurs:

Go on the victim still. Till medical assistance gets in, Keep the wounded victim lying down and calm down in a dimmed place, with the head and shoulders slimly raised. Do not displace the victim unless necessary and avoid displacing the victim's neck.
Cease any bleeding. Put on solid pressure to the injury with aseptic gauze bandage or a cleanse fabric. But do not put on direct pressure to the injury if you suspect a skull crack.
Look out for changes in respiration and vigilance. If the victim indicates no signs of respiration, cough or motility, start cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Treatment

Unfortunately, when the brain has been damaged by injury, there's no prompt fixing. Nevertheless, on that point there are a few measures that could be taken to prevent secondary damage. in case if left alone untreated a lot of people with head trauma will quickly spring up complications which could result in death or permanent disability. Immediate medical handling could prevent the aggravating of symptoms and lead to a better outcome. Medical handling should start at the scene of the injury. Paramedics will typically immobilize the victim to ensure no further impairment to the vertebral column or nervous system, put in an air duct to ensure continuous respiration, and execute endo-tracheal intubation if suggested. One or more IVs will be introduced to sustain perfusion status. In a few cases medications could be administered to calm or paralyse the victim to prevent further motility which might aggravate the brain trauma. The victim should be delivered quickly to a medical center with neuro-surgical potentialities. The management of brain trauma demands the involvement of sub specialists who are normally present only at bigger medical centers. More common handling requires controlling raised intracranial pressure level. These could include drugging, paralytics, spinal fluid diversion. Second line options include decompressive craniectomy, barbiturate coma, hypertonic saline solution and hypothermia.