Dr. Franklin Epstein, Chief of the Division of Neurosurgery at the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Hospital at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas, possesses extensive experience as a physician and medical school faculty member. A widely published author, he belongs to the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
TBI initially can result in alterations of consciousness ranging from momentary unawareness to prolonged coma. The ultimate outcome can leave people with a host of neurological deficits, such as partial paralysis, speech and memory defects, or even a permanent state of wakeful unawareness - the so-called vegetative state.
More alarmingly, recent research has shown that repeated, even minor, TBI can eventuate, years after seeming recovery, in a progressive form of dementia similar to Alzheimer's Disease. Former professional football players and boxers, as well as US combat veterans, are being increasingly diagnosed with this new dementing illness, now called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Neurosurgeons are in the forefront of the medical community trying to educate the US military, professional sports associations, as well as the general public, about this long-term result of repeated TBI.
TBI initially can result in alterations of consciousness ranging from momentary unawareness to prolonged coma. The ultimate outcome can leave people with a host of neurological deficits, such as partial paralysis, speech and memory defects, or even a permanent state of wakeful unawareness - the so-called vegetative state.
More alarmingly, recent research has shown that repeated, even minor, TBI can eventuate, years after seeming recovery, in a progressive form of dementia similar to Alzheimer's Disease. Former professional football players and boxers, as well as US combat veterans, are being increasingly diagnosed with this new dementing illness, now called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. Neurosurgeons are in the forefront of the medical community trying to educate the US military, professional sports associations, as well as the general public, about this long-term result of repeated TBI.