Traumatic Brain Injuries: What they do to the brain
Concussions can have a lasting impact - whether it’s one or many
How brain donation can help researchers understand traumatic brain injuries and chronic traumatic encephalopathy
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) occurs when a sudden, external force injures the brain. This can happen from impacts, such as car accidents, falls, sports injuries, or assaults. The injury can range from mild, such as a concussion, to severe, involving significant damage and long-term effects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 2.8 million Americans sustain a TBI every year and about 50,000 of them die from the injury.
Symptoms of a TBI can vary widely depending on the severity of the injury. Mild TBIs might cause headaches, dizziness, confusion, or temporary loss of consciousness, while severe TBIs can result in persistent problems like memory loss, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, or physical disabilities.
Treatment depends on the severity of the injury and can involve rest, medication, physical therapy, or surgery. Early diagnosis and management are crucial for patients’ recovery.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated head injuries, including concussions and subconcussive impacts. It is characterized by the buildup of abnormal tau protein in the brain, which leads to damage in brain cells and affects brain function over time.
CTE can present with a range of symptoms that typically appear years or even decades after the injuries occur. These can include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, mood swings, aggression, depression, and sometimes suicidal thoughts. As the disease progresses, individuals may experience difficulties with motor functions, such as tremors and difficulty walking.
Currently, CTE can only be definitively diagnosed through a post-mortem examination of the brain. Researchers look for specific patterns of tau protein deposits and other characteristic changes in brain tissue.
Brain donation is critical for understanding more about TBI and CTE. Donated brains provide data for researchers on brain structure and function, which helps in understanding the progression of brain damage, and in developing new diagnostic tools and targeted therapies to better treat and manage long-term effects.
Consider donating your brain to neuroscience research to help future generations
Here’s how it works:
Register In Advance
Complete the online form here. Your brain bank will send consent forms and request additional information directly from you.
Inform Your Loved Ones
Talk about your decision and desire to donate your brain to neuroscience when you pass. Your family will need to play an important role in ensuring your wishes are carried out promptly.Notify Your Brain Bank
Your family will contact the brain bank immediately upon your death. The brain bank will make arrangements for the brain to be removed (respectfully from the back of the head so it is not disfiguring) typically at the family’s funeral home. There is no cost to the family.
Benefit From Your Gift
If requested your family may receive a Summary of Neuropathological findings about your brain. Even more importantly, so many families tell us it helps them heal knowing that science will be advanced with this valuable brain tissue.
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Common Questions
How can brain donation help those with TBI or CTE?
Brain donation is critical for understanding more about TBI and CTE. Donated brains provide data for researchers on brain structure and function, which helps in understanding the progression of brain damage, and in developing new diagnostic tools and targeted therapies to better treat and manage long-term effects.
Since one brain can provide tissue for dozens – sometimes hundreds – of neurological studies, an individual brain donation is a highly valuable gift that almost anyone can make.
Do I need to have a brain disorder, like a concussion, TBI or CTE, to donate my brain?
No. To ensure research is thorough, it is extremely important that scientists have access to donated brain tissue from people who did not have brain diseases. This is known as control tissue and it is crucial that scientists compare it directly with tissue from a person with a neurological diagnosis to determine differences. In other words, non-diseased brains are extremely valuable to neuroscientists as they must be part of every study.
I’m already an organ donor. Does this include my brain?
No. Organ donation and brain donation are separate matters. An organ donor designation on a driver’s license does not include brain donation. Depending on the circumstances of death, it may be possible to donate organs for transplant as well as the brain for scientific research. If this is the case, the recovery teams will coordinate so that both kinds of donations can take place. Separate registrations for both organ donation and brain donation should be completed, if the intention is to donate both.