Causes of Brain injury

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The brain can be damaged in a number of ways. Brain damage usually occurs as a result of a knock or blow to the head, or after the blood supply is cut off, such as during a stroke. One of the most common causes of brain damage is a condition called stroke-in-progression. This describes brain damage caused by an obstruction to the blood supply that increases over a number of hours, days or weeks.

A knock or blow to the head, such as in a road traffic accident, can cause brain damage at the time of injury. This occurs as a result of damage to soft brain tissue when the brain rattles against the skull. There does not need to be a visible injury, such as a fracture to the skull, for brain damage to occur.

Some other possible causes of brain damage are:

Oxygen starvation due to lack of oxygen at birth
Cardiac arrest (heart attack)
Asphyxiation (suffocation)
Drowning
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Interruption of the blood supply to part of the brain, as in a stroke.
Blockage in the artery causes the part of the brain affected to die.
Serious infection such as meningitis or encephalitis.
Other conditions that can damage brain tissue, such as a brain tumour or muscular dystrophy.
Injury to brain tissue through a head injury or because of bleeding from a blood vessel in the brain.