But doctors don't always know about that damage. And when white matter absorbs a blow, the fallout not only can linger, it can worsen, causing severe problems for thinking or movement. Cognition and motor function tank when neurons can’t exchange messages. Trauma to axons-a neuron's root-like fibers that extend toward other neurons-often appears only in the deeper white matter, sometimes eluding simple scans.Īxonal damage is a big deal.
But a clean scan isn’t a clean bill of health. CT scans or MRIs pinpoint bruising or specks of hemorrhage in gray matter, the brain's outer layer where neurons do most of their processing. Mary's Hospital nearby.ĭoctors stop the bleeding, they relieve any pressure building inside the skull, maybe they’ll put the patient into a coma to keep the brain from overworking when it needs to relax and heal.
Neil Graham sees a lot of head injuries: “Car accidents, violence, assault, gunshots, stabbing-the works, really,” says Graham, a neurologist from Imperial College London who practices at St.
