B
Definitions of Traumatic Brain Injury
TABLE B-1 Case Definitions of Traumatic Brain Injury
Organization | Definition | Reference/Year |
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National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke | Traumatic brain injury (TBI), a form of acquired brain injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. TBI can result when the head suddenly and violently hits an object or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue. Symptoms of a TBI can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the damage to the brain. A person with a mild TBI may remain conscious or may experience a loss of consciousness for a few seconds or minutes. Other symptoms of mild TBI include headache, confusion, lightheadedness, dizziness, blurred vision or tired eyes, ringing in the ears, bad taste in the mouth, fatigue or lethargy, a change in sleep patterns, behavioral or mood changes, and trouble with memory, concentration, attention, or thinking. A person with a moderate or severe TBI may show these same symptoms, but may also have a headache that gets worse or does not go away, repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions or seizures, an inability to awaken from sleep, dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes, slurred speech, weakness or numbness in the extremities, loss of coordination, and increased confusion, restlessness, or agitation. | NIH, 2018 |
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | CDC defines a traumatic brain injury as a disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, or penetrating head injury. | CDC, 2017 |
Concussion in Sport Group (Berlin) |
Sport-related concussion (SRC) is a traumatic brain injury induced by biomechanical forces. Several common features that may be utilized in clinically defining the nature of a concussive head injury include
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McCrory et al., 2017 |
Organization | Definition | Reference/Year |
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Department of Veterans Affairs | Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can occur from direct contact to the head or when the brain is shaken within the skull, such as from a blast or whiplash during a car accident. The person may also have a loss of memory for the time immediately before or after the event that caused the injury. Not all injuries to the head result in a TBI, however. The severity of the TBI is determined at the time of the injury and is based on the length of the loss of consciousness, the length of either memory loss or disorientation, and how responsive the individual was after the injury. | VA, 2017 |
International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification | The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides instructions for coding traumatic brain injury (TBI) using ICD-10. ICD-10 codes based on loss of consciousness (LOC) time after the injury. In order to ensure the most accurate and appropriate level of coding, documentation for initial encounters must clearly state if there was an LOC due to the injury and the duration of the LOC. If documentation does not clearly define the LOC then unspecified state of consciousness must be coded. Follow-up care should be coded for sequelae of TBI using the symptom code(s) best representing the patient’s chief symptoms. | VA, 2015 |
American Academy of Neurology | Concussion is recognized as a clinical syndrome of biomechanically induced alteration of brain function, typically affecting memory and orientation, which may involve loss of consciousness (LOC). Symptoms are discussed as risk factors for severe or prolonged early impairments include headache, fatigue/fogginess, and dizziness. Signs include headache, fatigue/fogginess, early amnesia, alteration in mental status, and disorientation. A multidisciplinary approach to assessment and management is advocated in diagnosing concussion. Computerized tomography (CT) imaging should not be used to diagnose sports-related concussion, but might be obtained to | AAN, 2013 |
Organization | Definition | Reference/Year |
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rule out more serious traumatic brain injury (TBI) such as an intracranial hemorrhage in athletes with a suspected concussion who have LOC, post-traumatic amnesia, persistently altered mental status (Glasgow Coma Scale score 15), focal neurologic deficit, evidence of skull fracture on examination, or signs of clinical deterioration. | ||
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) | Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is defined as brain trauma with specific characteristics that include at least one of the following: loss of consciousness, posttraumatic amnesia, disorientation and confusion, or, in more severe cases, neurological signs (e.g., positive neuroimaging, a new onset of seizures or a marked worsening of a pre-existing seizure disorder, visual field cuts, anosmia, hemiparesis). To be attributable to TBI, a neurocognitive disorder must present either immediately after the injury or immediately after the individual recovers consciousness after the injury and persist past the acute post-injury period. The cognitive presentation is variable. Difficulties in the domains of complex attention, executive ability, learning, and memory are common as well as slowing in speed of information processing and disturbances in social cognition. In more severe TBI in which there is brain contusion, intracranial hemorrhage, or penetrating injury, there may be additional neurocognitive deficits, such as aphasia, neglect, and constructional dyspraxia. Severity rating criteria include loss of consciousness, posttraumatic amnesia, and disorientation and confusion at initial assessment (Glasgow Coma Scale Score). | APA, 2013 |
Military Acute Concussion Evaluation |
The Military Acute Concussion Evaluation, or MACE, is a standardized mental status exam that is used to evaluate mild TBI, or concussion, in a combat or other deployed setting. This screening tool was developed to evaluate a person with a suspected concussion, and is used to identify symptoms of mild TBI. The MACE form consists of four sections:
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DVBIC, 2012 |
Organization | Definition | Reference/Year |
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Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) | TBI is defined as an alteration in brain function or other evidence of brain pathology caused by an external force. | BIAA, 2011 |
The Brief Traumatic Brain Injury Screen |
The Brief Traumatic Brain Injury Screen screens for traumatic brain injury (TBI) using the following three questions:
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DVBIC, 2007 |
Organization | Definition | Reference/Year |
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Mayo Classification System | According to the Mayo System there are three main classifications: Definite Moderate-Severe TBI, Probable Mild TBI (mTBI), and Possible TBI. A classification of a Definite Moderate-Severe TBI would be made if one of the following was present: death due to this TBI, loss of consciousness of 30 minutes or more, posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) of 24 hours or more, worst Glasgow Coma Scale score in the first 24 hours <13 (unless invalidated by factors such as intoxication, sedation, systemic shock). In addition if there was evidence of hematoma, contusion, penetrating TBI, hemorrhage, or brain stem injury, the TBI would be classified as Definite Moderate-Severe TBI. A classification of Probable mTBI is made if one or more of the following criteria apply: loss of consciousness is momentary to 30 minutes and PTA does not extend beyond 24 hours. If the individual sustains a depressed, basilar, or linear skull fracture (dura intact), then the TBI is still a probable mTBI. A classification of Possible TBI is made if one or more of the following symptoms are present: blurred vision, confusion, dazed, dizziness, focal neurological symptoms, headache or nausea. | Malec, 2007 |
World Health Organization Collaborating Center Task Force on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury | Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is an acute brain injury resulting from mechanical energy to the head from external physical forces. Operational criteria for clinical identification include (i) one or more of the following: confusion or disorientation, loss of consciousness for 30 minutes or less, posttraumatic amnesia for less than 24 hours, and/or other transient neurological abnormalities such as focal signs, seizure, and intracranial lesion not requiring surgery; (ii) Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13–15 after 30 minutes post-injury or later upon presentation for health care. These manifestations of mTBI must not be due to drugs, alcohol, or medications; caused by other injuries or treatment for other injuries (e.g., systemic injuries, facial injuries, or | Holm, 2005 |
Organization | Definition | Reference/Year |
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intubation); caused by other problems (e.g. psychological trauma, language barrier, or coexisting medical conditions); or caused by penetrating cranio-cerebral injury | ||
American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) |
A patient with mild traumatic brain injury is a person who has had a traumatically induced physiological disruption of brain function, as manifested by at least one of the following:
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Kay et al., 1993 |
REFERENCES
American Academy of Neurology. 2013. Summary of evidence-based guideline update: Evaluation and management of concussion in sports. https://www.aan.com/Guidelines/home/GuidelineDetail/582 (accessed August 12, 2018).
APA (American Psychiatric Association). 2013. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.
BIAA (Brain Injury Association of America). 2011. BIAA adopts new TBI definition. https://www.biausa.org/public-affairs/public-awareness/news/biaa-adopts-new-tbi-definition (accessed August 12, 2018).
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). 2017. Traumatic brain injury & concussion. https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/index.html (accessed August 12, 2018).
DVBIC (Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center). 2007. Screening for traumatic brain injury in troops returning from deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq: Initial investigation of the usefulness of a short screening tool for traumatic brain injury. https://dvbic.dcoe.mil/research/screening-traumatic-brain-injury-troops-returning-deployment-afghanistan-and-iraq-initial (accessed August 24, 2018).
DVBIC. 2012. Military acute concussion evaluation form. https://health.mil/ReferenceCenter/Forms/2015/04/30/MACE-2012 (accessed August 28, 2018).
Holm, L., J. D. Cassidy, L. J. Carroll, and J. Borg. 2005. Summary of the WHO collaborating centre for neurotrauma task force on mild traumatic brain injury. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine 37(3):137–141.
Kay, T., D. E. Harrington, R. Adams, T. Anderson, S. Berrol, K. Cicerone, C. Dahlberg, D. Gerber, R. Goka, P. Harley, J. Hilt, L. Horn, D. Lehmkuhl, and J. Malec. 1993. Definition of mild traumatic brain injury. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation 8(3):86–87.
Malec, J. F., A. W. Brown, C. L. Leibson, J. T. Flaada, J. N. Mandrekar, N. N. Diehl, and P. K. Perkins. 2007. The Mayo classification system for traumatic brain injury severity. Journal of Neurotrauma 24(9):1417–1424.
McCrory, P., W. Meeuwisse, J. Dvorak, M. Aubry, J. Bailes, S. Broglio, R. C. Cantu, D. Cassidy, R. J. Echemendia, R. J. Castellani, G. A. Davis, R. Ellenbogen, C. Emery, L. Engebretsen, N. Feddermann-Demont, C. C. Giza, K. M. Guskiewicz, S. Herring, G. L. Iverson, K. M. Johnston, J. Kissick, J. Kutcher, J. J. Leddy, D. Maddocks, M. Makdissi, G. T. Manley, M. McCrea, W. P. Meehan, S. Nagahiro, J. Patricios, M. Putukian, K. J. Schneider, A. Sills, C. H. Tator, M. Turner, and P. E. Vos. 2017. Consensus statement on concussion in sport—the 5th international conference on concussion in sport held in Berlin, October 2016. British Journal of Sports Medicine 51(11):838–847.
NIH (National Institutes of Health). 2018. Traumatic brain injury information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed (accessed August 12, 2018).
VA (Department of Veterans Affairs). 2015. Fact sheet: Coding guidance for traumatic brain injury (TBI). http://www.rstce.pitt.edu/va_tbi/documents/11192015/11192015_03.pdf (accessed August 11, 2018).
VA. 2017. VA research on traumatic brain injury. https://www.research.va.gov/topics/tbi.cfm (accessed August 12, 2018).
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