Impact Brain Apnoea – A Forgotten Cause of Cardiovascular Collapse in Trauma
Highlights
- Impact Brain Apnoea (IBA) is the cessation of breathing after traumatic brain injury. It is frequently witnessed in animal TBI models with apnoea duration increasing with energy of brain injury. It is thought to be exacerbated by alcohol and early artificial ventilation through the period of apnoea is thought to be an effective treatment. (View Highlight)
- Concussion is a state of more or less disturbed consciousness with lost or practically lost reflectivity. The appearance is that of sleep or apparent death, there is occasional vomiting. The respiration is slow, shallow and regular, the pulse is weak, slow and generally regular, the pupils are dilated and react sluggishly, the temperature is subnormal. (View Highlight)
- Geddes and Whitwell24 challenged the accepted belief that the substrate of severe encephalopathy seen in post-mortem following “shaken baby syndrome” was diffuse axonal injury. They proposed that it was hypoxia and suggested that many conditions other than trauma could result in hypoxia. (View Highlight)
- Impact Brain Apnoea is a phenomenon seen in animals and reported in humans following traumatic brain injury. The duration of the apnoea reflects the energy transfer in the injury. Prolonged apnoea can cause death however, ventilatory intervention can carry those injured through the period of apnoea. Concurrent with the apnoea is a catecholamine surge that can result in cardiovascular collapse that can be misinterpreted as hypovolaemia (View Highlight)