Litigation

Chiari malformation can be caused by whiplash injuries in car accidents

By Michael Kaplen

A new study published in the journal Brain Injury, "Chiari and Whiplash Injury," shows that whiplash may also cause anatomical changes that can result in brain injury.

This study is important evidence to establish the link between neck injury in an automobile accident and the development of a brain malformation known as a Chiari malformation.  In a Chiari malformation, the bottom part of the brain (the cerebellum) dips through an opening in the base of the skull after a whiplash injury.

This causes severe headaches and other neurological symptoms in patients.
The study, one of the few to look at the connection between whiplash and brain injury, examined the MRI scans of 1200 neck pain patients and found that those patients suffering from whiplash were more likely to have anatomical changes to the brain resulting in brain injury, specifically, a Chiari brain herniation. Preliminary findings showed that brain injury occurred in 23% of the whiplash cases studied.

The brain injury attorneys at the brain injury law firm of De Caro & Kaplen, LLP can assist you in establishing that a Chiari malformation was caused by your automobile accident.

Full post as published by Brain Injury News and Information on September 19, 2010 (boomark / email).