Brain Injury Terms and Definitions

brain
The part of the central nervous system inside the skull. Its functions include muscle control and coordination, sensory reception and integration, speech production, memory storage and the elaboration of thought and emotion.

Ear Birth Defect
Anotia/microtia

Musculoskeletal Birth Defect
Diaphragmatic hernia, gastroschisis, omphalocele, limb deficiency, craniosynostosis, bladder exstrophy, cloacal exstrophy, sacral agenesis/caudal regression.

amygdala
uh-MIG-duh-luh). A part of the brain that oversees emotions and triggers your response to danger.

Gastrointestinal Birth Defect
Esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula, intestinal atresia, biliary atresia

neural tube defect
A structure in early fetal life that develops into the brain, spinal cord, spinal nerves and spine.

Canavan disease
Canavan disease is an inherited disorder of the central nervous system in which affected individuals cannot break down a compound called N-acetyl-L-aspartic acid (NAA). Canavan disease is one of a group of genetic disorders called the eukodystrophies.

closed head injury
An injury to the head or brain in which the skull remains intact.

aneurysm
The localized enlargement of a blood vessel, usually an artery, that forms a bulge or sac.

brain plasticity
Theories based on the idea that the brain may have the ability to use surviving brain cells in a different way to make up for those brain cells that are damaged.