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should I not let my children play hockey then
well i have very strong feelings uhm
based on thirty plus years of
seeing many many concussion patients an average week for me is now twenty five to
thirty concussion patients
plus the work that we've done
uh... at the center for the study of traumatic encephalopothy at BU
great work that ann mckee is involved with
thinking of teenagers already with incipient c_ t_ e_
thinking of individuals
from pop warner football that
lost entire school years because they couldn't remember their classmates names
for many months at a time
lost just about all the language they'd learned and and math
reflected in all of that I personally think
that collision sports
should not be participated in by individuals under the age of fourteen as
they're currently being played
the head trauma's gotta come out of them
the sports can be modified to be made much safer with regard to head trauma
i don't think we have to give up playing the sports but i think we have to give up
playing them as we are currently playing them
what is second impact syndrome
second impact syndrome is
an individual that's still symptomatic from an initial brain injury
and because the most common athletic brain injury is concussion most of the injuries
were concussions
but not all of them some were subdural hematomas that were missed
some were brain contusions or bruising of the brain
so the brain is injured
you have post concussion symptoms you have brain injury symptoms and then the
individual's subjected to another brain trauma sometimes very minor
and the brain loses its ability to control blood flow
it's a loss of auto regulation
blood flow rushes in the brain
pools because it can't get out fast enough
what you see is this dark area here
uh... within the ventricle which is largely filled with blood
and increases intracranial pressure
and sets up a scenario that's very unique to this condition where somebody
is
subjected to brain trauma sometimes not all that dramatic
uh... may get up a little stunned
but within minutes two three four five
goes from this alert conscious state to being comatose fixed dilated pupils
respiratory embarrassment due to brain herniation
and it's a life-threatening condition
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