MECHANISMS AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF MILD HEAD-INJURY

Mild head (brain) injury (MBI) accounts for the great majority of all head injuries (trauma) treated in emergency departments, outpatient departments, and physicians' offices in the United States.1-5 The biomechanics and pathophysiology of nonmissile (closed), severe, traumatic brain injury have been extensively investigated6-12 and increased understanding of mild head injury has resulted from biomechanical research and analysis. In any collection of retrospective severe traumatic brain injury studies, there is a consistent array of clinical, radiologic, surgical and pathoanatomic findings on which to focus. The same is not true for MBI.