BI Tools
Brain Injury Glossary
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- Identity Crisis
- The critical point in an individual's life when he experiences intense emotional pain and confusion about his worth and his view of himself as a member of society.
- Immune Response
- The body's defense function that produces antibodies to foreign antigens. It is important in organ and tissue transplantation since the body is likely to reject new tissues. Some theorize that injury to the nervous system exposes the immune system to previously unrecognized central nervous system autoantigens, which interfere with regeneration.
- Impairment
- A deficiency that interferes with normal activity.
- Impaired Initiative
- Diminished ability to take the first step in beginning an action
- Impaired Social Sensitivity
- Diminished capacity to feel, act or react with an appreciation of the expectations, standards and needs of others.
- Impulse Control
- Refers to the individual's ability to withhold inappropriate verbal or motor responses while completing a task. Persons who act or speak without first considering the consequences are viewed as having poor impulse control.
- Incontinent
- Inability to control bowel and bladder functions. Many people who are incontinent can become continent with training.
- Independent Living
- Community-based to maximize a person's ability to be empowered and self-directed; allows an individual to live in one's own home with maximum personal control over how services are delivered, combined with the opportunity to work as appropriate.
- Infarct
- Tissue that dies as a result of blocked blood flow.
- Inflammation.
- The body’s defense reaction to injury or infection.
- Inflexible
- Inability or unwillingness to adjust to changes.
- Informed Consent
- A patient's right to know the risks and benefits of a medical procedure.
- Initiative
- Refers to the individual's ability to begin a series of behaviors directed toward a goal.
- Interdisciplinary Approach
- A method of diagnosis, evaluation, and individual program planning in which two or more specialists, such as medical doctors, psychologists, recreational therapists, social workers, etc., participate as a team, contributing their skills, competencies, insights, and perspectives to focus on identifying the developmental needs of the person with a disability and on devising ways to meet those needs.
- Intracranial Hematoma
- Rupture of a blood vessel, producing a blood clot that exerts pressure on the brain.
- Intracranial Pressure (ICP)
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure measured from a needle or bolt introduced into the CSF space surrounding the brain. It reflects the pressure inside of the skull.
- Intracranial Pressure Monitor
- An ICP monitor. A monitoring device to determine the pressure within the brain. It consists of a small tube (catheter) attached to the person at the skull by either a ventriculostomy, subarachnoid bolt, or screw, and is then connected to a transducer, which registers the pressure.
- Intraspinal
- Within the vertebral column, which contains the spinal cord and cerebrospinal fluid.
- Intravenous Pyelogram (IVP)
- An x-ray of the kidney to determine function.
- Irritability
- Easy to excite to annoyance, impatience or anger; the action of nerve cells in generating and transmitting electrical impulses in response to stimuli.
- Ischemia
- A reduction of blood flow that is thought to be a major cause of secondary injury to the brain or spinal cord after trauma.
