Why do some recover
from brain damage?

Other unrecognized conditions
So what might explain long-delayed, sudden recoveries from brain injury?

One possibility is that the brain may have been impaired not just by the injury, but by some other condition, such as an infection or unrecognized seizure. When that other condition is treated or removed, the person’s mental status improves, even though the effect of the brain injury itself is unchanged.

“Something is holding them down further” than the brain injury itself does, said Dr. Ross Zafonte, chair of the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pittsburgh.

For example, some people have longstanding but subtle seizures after a head injury that can induce confusion, and when they are treated, “Boom, people get better,” said Dr. James Bernat, a neurology professor at Dartmouth University. “I’ve seen that happen.”

Liver disease, lung problems, anemia, infections and diabetes can also contribute to neurological problems, he said. So can side effects from certain drugs, and so a change in medication might bring about a sharp improvement in mental status, he said.

“I’m not saying that’s the case here (with the firefighter),” he said, “but these are the kinds of details we would need to know in order to properly interpret what happened.”

Dr. Jack Parent, an assistant neurology professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, agreed that medication side effects and chronic conditions might suppress mental function for a long time. But he also said scientists have only in recent years come to appreciate how much potential the brain has for self-repair.

If a person’s motivation is hampered, he said, “you could look a lot more impaired than your brain actually is.” So maybe if neuronal circuitry that lets a person tap the brain’s motivational centers was damaged and then gets fixed, that might produce a sudden improvement, he said.

But why that would finally occur so long after brain injury, he said, is a mystery.

MORE FROM MORE HEALTH NEWS

More Health News Section Front

Study: 15,000 will die from CT scans done in 1 year New VA patients younger, more often women Wireless devices may read words in the brain Pregnant woman claims hospital ignored her U.S. needs to address vaccine safety, report says Power line pollutants pose health risks Promising treatment for adults with sickle cell CDC: Pet frogs source of salmonella outbreak 1 in 5 on Medicare rehospitalized in one month Feds probing chemical levels in Zhu Zhu toys More Health News Section Front   Add More Health News headlines to your news reader: