Jules Bianchi remains in critical but stable condition, with his injury revealed as a diffuse axonal injury.
A diffuse axonal injury is to the brain and is both one of the most common types of brain injuries but is also one of the most severe types and can lead to death, according to the Brain Injury Institute.
“It is called diffuse because unlike some other brain injuries that are focal, in one generalized area; this type is widespread affecting a larger area,” it explained.
“Unlike some of the other brain injuries that may be caused by a blow to the head this one is different. Diffuse axonal brain injury is caused by the movement of the brain within the skull. As a closed head injury, this can be much more dangerous than an open head injury because of the tearing of the brain tissue and the swelling that can occur.
“These movements, which are normally a back and forth type of movement, disrupt the nerve cells which allow the neurons to send messages between them. Once those cells are disrupted and the links between them broken, the signally process can not occur and functions like movement, speech, and even those that support life can cease.”
Former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein says that he’s “gutted” and “sickened” by news of the injury.
“When we take a patient to the CT scanner to see what the injuries are, we’re sometimes surprised to see that our (very) comatose patient has a shockingly ‘normal’ looking scan. When the scan shows essentially generalised swelling with no significant focal neurosurgical lesions (i.e., bruises and hematomas), we talk about diffuse axonal injury, or DAI. We HATE when this happens. We have a scan that’s remarkably . . . pristine, with a patient who is seriously comatose,” he wrote in a blog post.
The widespread part of the injury isn’t good because it makes treatment harder, in addition to rehab.
“DAI seems to damage the white matter of the brain. The cabling. Once again, this isn’t really great, as the cabling is what allows higher-level information processing by hooking up the various brain areas (e.g., visual and auditory. I SEE you talking, HEAR your words, but actually it’s associative areas of my brain that fuse the information and integrates it into my experience of YOU TALKING,” he said.
“That kind of processing is easily interrupted with DAI. This will often be associated with brain swelling, at least initially.”
The 25-year-old Bianchi had emergency surgery for a severe head injury on Sunday after his car hit a crane that was sent to recover another vehicle.
In a statement distributed in conjunction with the Mie Medical Center, Bianchi’s family said the driver “has suffered a diffuse axonal injury and is in a critical but stable condition.”
Bianchi crashed on the 44th lap in Sunday’s rain-shortened race at the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka circuit. His car went off at Turn 7, where Sauber driver Adrian Sutil had crashed two laps earlier.
According to a report issued by FIA, Bianchi lost control of his car, travelled across the run-off area and hit the back of the tractor that was being used to remove Sutil’s car. Bianchi was unconscious when he was taken from Suzuka to the hospital.
FIA, the governing body of the sport, is investigating the incident. It confirmed in a statement that its president, Jean Todt, has asked race director Charlie Whiting to carry out a report on the crash.
“This report is still under elaboration as it concerns the cross-checking of a number of different sources of information,” FIA said. “It will aim to be as complete and detailed as possible in order to understand exactly the accident which occurred.”
Bianchi, who started his career in Formula One in 2013, is also a member of the Ferrari young driver’s academy. The Italian team has asked Professor Alessandro Frati, a neurosurgeon from the Sapienza University of Rome, to travel to Japan to work alongside the local medical staff taking care of Bianchi.
Also at Bianchi’s bedside is Gerard Saillant, the president of FIA’s medical commission who oversaw Michael Schumacher’s treatment when the German was in a coma following his ski accident.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
