Brain dead symptoms

Brain lesions are areas of brain tissue that show damage from injury or disease. The most common way to detect brain lesions is with diagnostic imaging scans. Depending on the cause, some types of brain lesions will heal on their own or are treatable. However, some brain lesions are permanent or happen for reasons that can’t be treated or cured. Overview Brain lesions are “visible” evidence of damage to part of your brain. The most common way to “see” them is with medical imaging scans. What are brain lesions? Brain lesions are areas of damaged brain tissue. This kind of damage happens because of brain injuries or medical conditions. A stroke, for example, is a type of brain lesion. Lesions can disrupt the way your brain works, causing a wide range of symptoms, such as weakness, disruption of one or more senses and confusion. How do brain lesions affect the brain? When it comes to your brain, communication is everything. Your brain uses electrical and chemical signals to communicate inside your brain itself and with areas throughout your body. When you have a brain lesion, the damage can disrupt communication in the affected brain area(s). The more severe the damage, the greater the disruption. How lesions affect different areas of the brain Different areas of your brain control different processes and functions, so the symptoms of brain lesions vary depending on their location. A neurologist or other healthcare provider uses your symptoms to locate where the problem is wi...

There are many medical conditions and events that interrupt the flow of oxygen to your brain. Stroke, cardiac arrest, and an irregular heartbeat can prevent oxygen and nutrients from traveling to the brain. Other possible causes of oxygen depletion include: • • anesthesia complications during surgery • • • drowning • breathing in carbon monoxide or smoke • traveling to high altitudes (above 8,000 feet) • brain injury • strangulation • medical conditions that make it difficult to breathe, such as extreme Anyone who experiences an event where they aren’t getting enough oxygen is at risk for brain hypoxia. If your job or regular activities involve situations that deprive you of oxygen, your risk is greater. Sports and hobbies Participating in sports where head injuries are common, such as boxing and football, also puts you at risk for brain hypoxia. Swimmers and divers who hold their breaths for long periods of time are also susceptible. Mountain climbers are at risk as well. Medical conditions You’re at risk if you have a medical condition that limits the transfer of oxygen to your brain. These conditions include: • • • Brain hypoxia requires immediate treatment to restore the flow of oxygen to your brain. The exact course of treatment depends on the cause and severity of your condition. For a mild case caused by mountain climbing, for example, you would immediately return to a lower altitude. In more severe cases, you need emergency care that places you on a ventilator (bre...

Machines can breathe for someone who is brain dead, and medicines can keep the heart beating for a short time. However, eventually, all the person’s organs stop working. If a person wanted to be an organ donor, doctors may be able to use the person's organs for Overview of Transplantation Transplantation is the removal of living, functioning cells, tissues, or organs from the body and then their transfer back into the same body or into a different body. The most common type of... read more . But the organ donation has to be done before the organs stop working. No one who's brain dead ever recovers. Brain death is different from Stupor and Coma Medical problems that affect your brain often keep you from being wide awake and thinking clearly. You may be affected only a little or a whole lot, ranging from being: Slightly less alert than... read more . People in a coma have some brain function and sometimes recover. What causes brain death? Lack of oxygen to the brain (such as from Drowning Drowning occurs when submersion in liquid causes suffocation or interferes with breathing. During drowning, the body is deprived of oxygen, which can damage organs, particularly the brain. Doctors... read more or Cardiac Arrest and CPR Cardiac arrest is when the heart stops pumping blood and oxygen to the brain and other organs and tissues. Sometimes a person can be revived after cardiac arrest, particularly if treatment is... read more ) How can doctors tell if someone is brain dead? Brain...

In the past, the idea of brain death was irrelevant because when the brain died, so did the rest of the body. That is, the person stopped breathing, and the heart stopped beating. However now, artificial means (such as ventilators and drugs) can temporarily maintain breathing and the heart’s beating even when all brain activity stops. But eventually, even with help from artificial means, all the body's organs stop working. Nothing can keep the heart beating indefinitely once brain death occurs. Diagnosis of Brain Death Occasionally, when results of the initial evaluation are uncertain or the evaluation cannot be completed, doctors use certain diagnostic tests to help them diagnose brain death. Establishing the diagnosis of brain death quickly may be especially important when organ transplantation is planned—for example, after catastrophic head injuries (as may occur in car crashes). The tests include Electroencephalography Diagnostic procedures may be needed to confirm a diagnosis suggested by the medical history and neurologic examination. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a simple, painless procedure in which... read more (EEG—a recording of the brain’s electrical activity): This test shows no brain waves when a person is brain dead. • Imaging tests include Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Positron emission tomography (PET) is a type of radionuclide scanning. A radionuclide is a radioactive form of an element, which means it is an unstable atom that becomes more stable b...

In the U.S., every year, about 2.6 million people have some type of What Are the Types of Brain Damage and How Severe Are They? All traumatic brain injuries are • Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI) is caused by an external force -- such as a blow to the head -- that causes the brain to move inside the skull or damages the skull. This in turn damages the brain. • Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) occurs at the cellular level. It is most often associated with pressure on the brain. This could come from a tumor. Or it could result from neurological illness, as in the case of a stroke. Both traumatic brain injury and acquired brain injury occur after birth. And neither is degenerative. Sometimes, the two terms are used interchangeably. There is a kind of brain damage that results from genetics or birth trauma. It's called congenital brain damage. It is not included, though, within the standard definition of brain damage or traumatic brain injury. Some brain injuries cause focal -- or localized -- brain damage, such as the damage caused when a bullet enters the brain. In other words, the damage is confined to a small area. Closed head injuries frequently cause diffuse brain damage, which means damage to several areas of the brain. For example, both sides of the brain are damaged and the nerves are stretched throughout the brain. This is called diffuse axonal injury or DAI. The severity of brain damage can vary with the type of brain injury. A mild brain injury may be temporary. It causes he...

A coma is a disruption in brain activity. It prevents consciousness, meaning you’re unconscious, unaware of the world around you and impossible to wake. Comas have varying levels of severity and can happen because of many different conditions. Some causes of comas are treatable or reversible. Comas are medical emergencies and need immediate care. Overview What is a coma? Being in a coma means you’re unconscious, unaware and unresponsive to what’s happening around you. It also blocks your awareness of yourself, including your body’s status and anything your body needs. At the most basic level, a coma means your brain isn’t working as it should. Comas are a possible complication of conditions that can severely disrupt or damage your brain. A coma is different from person to person. Comas have levels of severity, and some are deeper — meaning the severity of brain activity disruption is greater — than others. A coma is a medical emergency. If you’re with someone who’s unconscious and unresponsive, call 911 (or your local emergency services number) immediately. Many causes of coma need immediate medical care, and any delay could lead to dangerous complications or death. How common are comas? The available research suggests that there are a little over 250 new comas per 100,000 people in the population of the United States and the United Kingdom each year. However, there’s uncertainty about the accuracy of that estimate. And there are multiple reasons for that uncertainty. One ...