Abstract for presentation at 6th World Congress on Brain Injury

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury affects over 8000 people in Ontario each year. Contrary to the implied term of "mild", the symptoms acquired following a mild brain injury can be devastating to the patient and long lasting. Dizziness is of one the most commonly reported symptoms following a brain injury. Patients in two Toronto clinics were screened for the most common MTBI symptoms. The primary portion of the study took place over a three year period in a private clinic involving 640 patients who had sustained a work related injury, of these, 50.2% of patients reported experiencing dizziness. In an inner city trauma care hospital, 63% complained of dizziness symptoms. Patients experiencing dizziness were administered a further protocol to diagnose the particular symptoms. Over 49.5% of patients had a psychogenic type of dizziness, 45.8% experienced Benign Positional Vertigo and 8.6% had another type (vestibular cocholear, cervicogenic). Some patients experienced more than one type of dizziness. These results were subsequently verified by an ENT specialist. Diagnostic and treatment methods are detailed.