Abstract

MOSQUERA BETANCOURT, Gretel. Physiological aging and predisposition to traumatic brain injury. AMC [online]. 2011, vol.15, n.5, pp.917-932. ISSN 1025-0255.

Background: Brain injury is the most frequent neurosurgical condition in all age groups and in the elderly is the leading cause of neurosurgical morbidity and mortality. Aging increases the risk of traumatic brain injury (TBI) as well as its complications. Objective: the purpose of this review is to update knowledge on the effects of physiological aging, its predisposition to TBI and its complications in this group. Development: aging of the central nervous system is a complex process characterized by macroscopic and microscopic metamorphosis, thus limiting its functionability. The deterioration of the brain autoregulatory mechanisms coupled with chronic hyperinflammatory state favor mechanisms leading to brain injury, after the trauma that amplifies the secondary response in a harmful way. Aging of all organ system translates into global reduction in systemic function, leading to reduction in adaptative capacity when confronting stress, such as TBI. It is also accompanied by changes in pharmacological properties in the body reducing treatment response. Conclusions: aging adds peculiar characteristics to the elderly making them a special group, base on their needs and particularities, which enable us to explain without any doubt the high morbidity, the peculiar nature of different diseases and the complexity related to disease management.

Keywords : AGING [physiology]; CRANIOCELEBRAL TRAUMA; AGED; REVIEW LITERATURE AS TOPIC.

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