A speeding driver sustained a closed-head injury in an acceleration/deceleration accident from striking a tree front end first. Based on the coup-contrecoup phenomenon, which assessments are most likely to be affected related to the involved areas of the brain?

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11ecbb05_ca38_98a6_b433_cd469413db55_MD0009_00 Coup-contrecoup injury occurs when a body in motion stops suddenly (eg, head hits car windshield), causing contusions (bruising) of brain tissue as the brain moves back and forth within the skull. First, the soft tissue strikes the hard skull in the same direction as the momentum (coup). As the body bounces back, the brain strikes the opposing side of the skull (contrecoup). When the forward collision occurred, the frontal lobe most likely suffered the primary impact (coup). Executive function, memory, speech (Broca area), and voluntary movement are controlled by the frontal lobe. The contrecoup most likely injured the occipital lobe, where vision is processed. (Option B) The temporal lobe (lateral aspect of the brain) controls hearing and integrates sensory data (eg, auditory, visual, somatic). The Wernicke speech area in the temporal lobe is responsible for language comprehension. Light touch is processed by the sensory cortex in the parietal lobe. (Option C) An interruption of sensory function indicates injury to either the spinal column or the parietal lobe. These injuries affect proprioception (awareness of body positioning) and graphesthesia (ability to identify writing on the skin, by touch). (Option D) The Weber test screens for conductive hearing loss by checking whether a tuning fork held along the midline of the head is heard evenly in both ears. Cranial nerve I is the olfactory nerve. Hearing and smell are both processed by the temporal lobe. Educational objective: Coup-contrecoup injuries usually affect the frontal and occipital lobes. The frontal lobe controls executive function, memory, speech, and motor skills. The occipital lobe processes vision.

A Speeding Driver Sustained a Closed-Head Injury in an Acceleration/deceleration