Brain Injury Animation

Brain Injury Animation Explains Its Impacts

Recently, a case study was published demonstrating how brain injury animation was used to explain the impacts of a child’s traumatic brain injury. As technology has progressed, medical imaging has improved substantially. This has led to the development of three-dimensional computer animation which can be used to explain complex medical topics in a way that everyone can understand.

In this case, a young child was playing on a swing set when the swing broke. As a result, the child fell a large distance and struck the ground. When she landed, her head collided with the ground and she suffered a traumatic brain injury. As a result, she was unconscious for several seconds before she woke up. After this fall, she received medical care where doctors later diagnosed her with a coup-contrecoup brain injury.

What is a Coup-Contrecoup Injury?

A coup-contrecoup head injury is one of several types of TBIs. This is a serious brain injury because it can cause serious damage to multiple lobes within the brain itself. The “coup” side of the injury occurs where the impact was felt. In this case study, the coup injury is the side of the child’s head that struck the ground. On the other hand, the “contrecoup” side of the injury occurs on the opposite side of the brain. In this case study, the contrecoup side is the portion of the brain that was opposite from the location of impact.

The mechanism of the injury involves rapid acceleration and deceleration of the brain. When the child fell to the ground, the brain accelerated inside of the skull. The acceleration causes the brain to strike the inside of the skull, leading to the “coup” injury. When the brain strikes the skull, it rapidly decelerates and bounces off the skull. When it bounces off the skull, it strikes the opposite surface inside the head. This impact leads to the “contrecoup” injury.

Coup-contrecoup injuries are serious and can cause major complications. Some of the impacts of coup-contrecoup brain injuries include cerebral contusions and diffuse axonal injury. These complications can lead to increased intracranial pressure. If this is not addressed quickly, it can cause a brain herniation.

The Importance of Brain Injury Animation

The family of this child was understandably upset that the swing set broke while their child was using it. Had the product been built properly, their child would not have been left with permanent complications stemming from the traumatic brain injury. The doctors had ordered CT and MRI imaging that showed a mild TBI was present. Unfortunately, these scans are difficult to interpret without medical training. Furthermore, these images did not show the full scope of the complications from this fall.

As a result, finding a way to produce brain injury animation was crucial. In this animation, a three-dimensional, moving image is created to show what happened when the child fell from the swing set. With the help of this advanced technology, everyone is able to understand what took place inside the skull. The movie clearly showed that the brain impacted the inside of the skull in multiple places. This helps everyone understand just how and why this child was left with permanent complications in a way that CT and MRI scans cannot.

The Results of the Case: A Substantial Settlement

The animation above was used to detail how the cells of the brain were disrupted as a result of the fall. It also helped introduce the child’s additional injuries. These included facial fractures and orbital fractures. Even though the bone fractures healed, the child was left with behavioral, emotional, physical, and cognitive issues as a result of the brain injury.

With everyone able to understand why this brain injury took place, the MRI and CT scans were highlighted to show the damaged areas in the child’s brain. This helped the audience correlate the complications with brain damage. In the end, this resulted in the jury awarding the child’s family $3.75 million. This award will help the family provide the medical care their child needs as a result of the injuries sustained.

San Francisco Brain Injury Lawyer