Synonyms
DAI
Definition
One of the major types of traumatic brain injury that results from acceleration-deceleration effects rather than direct impact on the brain. Typically, the injury is the result of high-speed situations such as motor vehicle accidents or violent shaking of the head from side to side. The forceful motion of injury disturbs the delicate underlying white matter tracts of the brain that are responsible for connecting the functional areas controlling motor skills, cognitive skills, language skills, and behavior. Because each neural cell or vessel has a fixed length and is held in position along its path by other cells, there is limited elasticity in any cell or vessel. Thus, acceleration-deceleration forces can disrupt cells and vessels despite an absence of direct trauma to the cell or vessel. Damage may result from stretching, twisting, or rotation. Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is more likely to occur with lateral movements of the brain and least likely to occur with...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences and Readings
Bigler, E. D. (2001). Distinguished Neuropsychologist Award Lecture 1999. The lesion(s) in traumatic brain injury: Implications for clinical neuropsychology. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 16, 95–131.
Gennarelli, T. A., Thibault, L. E., Adams, J. H., Graham, D. I., Thompson, C. J., & Marcincin, R. P. (1982). Diffuse axonal injury and traumatic coma in the primate. Annals of Neurology, 12, 564–574.
Hou, D. J., Tong, K. A., Ashwal, S., Oyoyo, U., Joo, E., Shutter, L., & Obenaus, A. (2007). Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging improves outcome prediction in adult traumatic brain injury. Journal of Neurotrauma, 24, 1558–1569.
Kraus, M. F., Susmaras, T., Caughlin, B. P., Walker, C. J., Sweeney, J. A., & Little, D. M. (2007). White matter integrity and cognition in chronic traumatic brain injury: A diffusion-tensor imaging study. Brain, 130, 2508–2519.
Sharp, D. J., Scott, G., & Leech, R. (2014). Network dysfunction after traumatic brain injury. Nature Reviews Neurology, 10(3), 156–166.
Strich, S. J. (1956). Diffuse degeneration of the cerebral white matter in severe dementia following head injury. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 19, 163–185.
Ubukata, S., Ueda, K., Sugihara, G., Yassin, W., Aso, T., Fukuyama, H., & Murai, T. (2016). Corpus callosum pathology as a potential surrogate marker of cognitive impairment in diffuse axonal injury. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 28, 97–103.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Rush, B. (2018). Diffuse Axonal Injury. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_234
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57111-9_234
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57110-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57111-9
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences