Brain Injury Terms and Definitions

BDPM
Birth Defects Monitoring Program

Eye Birth Defect
Anophthalmia/microphthalmia, congenital cataracts, glaucoma

Ear Birth Defect
Anotia/microtia

brain
The part of the central nervous system inside the skull. Its functions include muscle control and coordination, sensory reception and integration, speech production, memory storage and the elaboration of thought and emotion.

cerebral palsy
A disorder caused by injury to the cerebral area of the brain that occurs before or during birth or in the first few months after birth. Damage to the cerebrum may cause paralysis (palsy) in one or more parts of the body.

Central nervous system Birth Defect
Neural tube defects, hydrocephaly, holoprosencephaly, Dandy-Walker malformation

Alzheimer's disease
Severe form of dementia caused by significant deterioration of brain tissue.

hippocampus
Part of the brain that assists in storing memory by sorting and sending new bits of information to be stored in appropriate sections of your brain and recalling them when necessary.

Musculoskeletal Birth Defect
Diaphragmatic hernia, gastroschisis, omphalocele, limb deficiency, craniosynostosis, bladder exstrophy, cloacal exstrophy, sacral agenesis/caudal regression.

closed head injury
An injury to the head or brain in which the skull remains intact.