Disease Analysis and Comparison: Post-Concussive Syndrome and Traumatic Brain Injury

Post-concussive syndrome and traumatic brain injury represent diseases that share aspects of causes and contributing factors and primary symptoms. At the same time, the pathologies diverge into their presentation, pathophysiology, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. The clinical nurse’s ability to identify the differences between the diseases can often improve the quality of care administered to the patient and increase his/her likelihood for positive health outcomes.

Post-concussive syndrome (PCS) represents a pathology impacting approximately 30-80% of patients impacted by concussions (Mullaly, 2017). Since the disease represents a subset of effects derived from concussions, PCS can impact diverse patient demographics. However, variables such as a patient’s age, physiological maturity, and gender can impact the potential severity of the disease and the rate at which an affected person recovers. Mullaly (2017) noted that athletes represent a group commonly impacted by PCS, and specifically affected by the headaches associated with its diagnosis. Among athletes, approximately 90% of patients recover from headaches within a period between 1-2 weeks. PCS’s impact upon children can be more severe, and typically physicians provide acute forms of care during the period following an initial concussion and resulting in the manifestation of headaches: the pathology’s primary symptom.

As a disease, PCS can be defined as a short-term affliction resulting from the lingering effects of a concussion. Headaches represent its primary pathophysiological manifestation. However, in some cases, patients can be impacted in the short term by non-epileptic seizures, behavioral changes, and depression. Physicians typically assess patients by conducting physical, cognitive, and behavioral assessments of the patient following a diagnosed concussion and after the specific manifestation of PCS-related symptoms. Diagnosis typically consists of the patient’s recent concussion and the onset of subsequent symptoms. No current treatment methodologies exist, meaning doctors typically treat a patient’s manifested symptoms and at the level of symptoms’ severity (Mayo Clinic, 2018).

Traumatic brain injury, in contrast, represents a more substantial disruption to the patient’s neurological, physiological, and psychological processing. Typical cases present in episodes where individuals are exposed to events that result in major physical damage to the brain. Primary causes include military personnel who undergo physical damage to the brain via explosions or bullets. However, persons involved in major car accidents and similar events are also potentially vulnerable. In more mild cases, the symptoms associated with traumatic brain injury overlap with those connected to PCS. Patients, for example, might undergo headaches or seizures as a primary symptom. However, these symptoms tend to be more severe and to last longer among patients affected by traumatic brain injury. These patients are also prone to memory loss, major forms of behavioral transformation, periodic cognitive confusion, and a loss of physical coordination. Assessment methodologies related to traumatic brain injuries frequently include holistic assessments that monitor a patient’s physical, psychological, and emotional/behavioral aspects. Diagnosis stems from a combined assessment of patient symptoms over the longer-term alongside with confirmation of the person’s exposure to events resulting in traumatic neurological injury. Currently, treatment methodologies consist of applied holistic models that seek to rehabilitate patients physical, psychologically, and cognitively. However, no present treatment model exists that can address the pathology directly (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017).

PCS differs from traumatic brain injury in the sense that it is a shorter-term in its duration, less severe in its effects, and typically results in near-immediate patient recovery. Traumatic brain injuries tend to be far more severe, longer-term in its duration, even as the disease also tends to require ongoing forms of intensive and holistic therapy and rehabilitation. Traumatic brain injuries also tend to impact persons involved in combat and other distressing environments, while PCS impacts individuals affected by relatively minor events. 

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). Traumatic brain injury in the United States: Epidemiology and treatment. Washington, D.C.: CDC.

Mayo Clinic. (2018). Post-concussion syndrome. Retrieved from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-concussion-syndrome/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353357.

Mullaly, W. (2017). Concussion. The American Journal of Medicine, 130(8), 887-892.