Dr. Arthur Day on Concussions, Part I: Overview

An accomplished neurosurgeon with nearly four decades of experience in the field of medicine, Dr. Arthur Day possesses an extensive background across a wide range of neurological disciplines. In particular, Dr. Day has accrued a wealth of knowledge and professional experience in the field of sports medicine, which often requires a thorough understanding of athletics. In addition to neurological conditions such as pinched nerves, concussions represent another common sports injury that has received a large share of attention from the players, the media, and members of the medical profession.

From the Latin word concussus, which refers to an event that involves two objects striking together, a concussion is a brain injury that generally occurs when the head comes into hard contact with another object. Inside the protective barrier provided by the skull, the brain is suspended in a bed of cerebrospinal fluid, which cushions it against everyday bumps and jolts and prevents it from crashing against the hard inner surface of the skull. If a person incurs sudden and violent contact to the head, the brain can push through the cerebrospinal fluid and strike the skull, which has the potential to injure the brain.

Although concussions can vary widely in their severity, most concussions share many of the same physical symptoms, including a headache, dizziness, and a loss of balance. More severe concussions can produce a wider range of physical symptoms, including vomiting, double vision, tinnitus, and even convulsions. In some cases, victims of trauma to the head have developed posttraumatic epilepsy, although the exact linkage between structural brain injury and epilepsy is still not fully understood.

Concussions also have the potential to cause damage to a person’s emotional and cognitive faculties. Common cognitive symptoms in the wake of a concussion include difficulty focusing, confusion, general disorientation, slurred speech, and a vacant stare. In some cases, concussion victims experience posttraumatic amnesia, which prevents them from remembering the events leading up to the injury. Similarly, concussions can bring about changes in a person’s emotional state, often causing inappropriate displays of emotion, depression, anxiety, and loss of interest in favorite activities. Such emotional and cognitive symptoms may manifest themselves in the immediate aftermath of the injury, or they may take hours or even days to appear.

Copyright 2012 – Dr Arthur Day Neurosurgeon

Dr. Arthur Day’s work with Legendary Baseball Journalist Peter Gammons

Dr. Arthur Day received his Doctor of Medicine from Louisiana State University in New Orleans, and then completed his residency in Neurological Surgery at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He currently serves as a Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Texas Houston Medical School. Prior to that time, he served as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery, as well as the Director of the Cerebrovascular Center and the Neurological Sports Injury Center of Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Day was recently featured in Boston Magazine for his work with Peter Gammons, the legendary baseball journalist who suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm several years ago. In the Boston Magazine article, Mr. Gammons comments on the impressive care he received from Dr. Arthur Day, noting that other physicians had assessed his recovery time at a year and a half. Due to Dr. Day’s expertise, Mr. Gammons was able to return to work in only two and a half months.

Also referred to as a cerebral or intracranial aneurysm, a brain aneurysm is an abnormal swelling of one of the arteries located within the brain. Often discovered only after a rupture occurs, a brain aneurysm can lead to a hemorrhagic stroke, severe damage to the brain, and even death. Every year, 30,000 people suffer from aneurismal subarachnoid hemorrhage, or the bursting of the enlarged vessel segment. An estimated 10 to 15 percent of these cases result in fatalities before hospital care can be given, and more than 50 percent of individuals who suffer a trauma of this kind die within a month. Of those who survive an aneurysm, many are left with some form of permanent neurological disability. Although brain aneurysms most often occur in adults ages 35-60, people of all ages are susceptible, women being more likely to suffer from aneurysms than men. There are many treatment options available for both ruptured and intact brain aneurysms that can enable a person to live a healthy, functional life.

Due to the pioneering work of physicians such as Dr. Day, instances of fatalities and permanent brain damage resulting from aneurysms are steadily decreasing.