Is an Early Brain Lesion Prognostically More Advantageous Than a Late Brain Lesion?
Journal
職能治療學會雜誌
Journal Volume
10
Pages
55-61
Date Issued
1992
Author(s)
Abstract
The literature on recovery of function contains arguments for and against the advantages for recovery when a cerebral lesion is sustained early in life. This paper evaluated the argument that it is prognostically more advantageous for a lesion incurred earlier than later in life by reviewing studies on recovery of function after brain damage. The empirical evidence showed that it is not necessarily better to have a brain injury earlier in life for the following reasons: First, recovery following an early lesion is not complete and only occurs under certain circumstances. In addition, a substantial price is paid for the recovery to occur under some circumstances. Second, some animal studies found that while behavioral deficits may not be apparent following brain damage during infancy, such deficits may develop and persist later in life. Third, cumulative evidence from research on the relationship between age of onset and brain damage suggests that plasticity in central nervous system are not always beneficial. Fourth, while the infant brain may have more capacity for recovery from neural trauma than the adult brain, the infant brain has been found to be more susceptible to a variety of pathological conditions than the adult brain.
Publisher
社團法人臺灣職能治療學會
Type
journal article