Comparative studies have been done on the results of our EEG examination with 218 senile patients with head injuries and 1, 110 middle-aged patients with head injuries, who were classified into groups by the frequency of abnormal EEG records, duration of unconsciousness, notable clinical symptoms, skull fracture, and details of EEG findings. The principal findings out of the results were that the frequency of abnormal EEG was usually higher in senile patients concerning all groups, and especially that the frequency of abnormal EEG was nearly double in the patients with duration of unconsciousness for more than 10 minutes. Among the details of EEG findings, delta burst, focal abnormality, and slow waves in posterior half of the brain were the most notable findings.
It is a matter of course that the head injuries of senile patients offer features different from those of young and middle-aged patients. The difference can be partly attributed to that the skull protecting the brain is fragile and that the elasticity of soft tissues is also reduced in the senile patients. The cerebral tissues are destined to become fragile as the neural fibers and blood vessels of neural cells get older.
1-4 On the other hand, it has been pointed out that both the blood flow in the brain and the metabolism of cerebral tissues are reduced as the sclerosis of cerebral arteries is advanced,
5 and that these changes, when affected by the external forces exerted upon head, would indicate clinical pictures and results of laboratory examinations unlike those of head injuries in the young and middle-aged patients. The present report, therefore, has been intended for comparative evaluation of head injuries of senile patients with those of younger patients and, consequently, for clarification of the characteristics of head injuries in senile patients.
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