Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

27 September 2013 Last updated at 10:05 ET The victim of an unprovoked attack almost died after not realising the seriousness of his injury, for more than a month. The 53-year-old man was hit in the face and head by three men in East Grinstead in July, but did not report it. Then, while on a family holiday abroad in August, he started suffering headaches before becoming unable to recognise family and friends. He later underwent surgery for a life-threatening brain injury. A Sussex Police spokesman said when the man returned from holiday, he went for a scan and on 13 September, was rushed to Hurstwood Park neurological unit in Haywards Heath and the attack was reported to the force. The victim is now recovering from emergency brain surgery. The three attackers, described as white and in their early 20s, had been sitting on a bench with a woman outside the Energie fitness club in London Road before the assault. Det Con Karrie Bohanna said: "This was a nasty unprovoked attack that could have proved fatal. "If the victim had not been with his family when his condition worsened he might not have got the treatment he needed in time." … Continue reading →

Despite promising results in controlling neuronal activity, leaders in brain research still wrestle over turning their work into treatments. Recent achievements in neurotechnology are nothing short of stunningblind people can see parts of their world again, and a woman who has been paralyzed for a decade can feed herself using a robotic arm. Leaders in the field presented these and other advances at the Aspen Brain Forum last week, while at the same time debating how quickly these technologies will lead to treatments for neurological disease and injury. At the Aspen meeting, which was cosponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences, Robert Greenberg, CEO of Second Sight, described how his medical-device company developed a prosthetic-sight system (see Bionic Eye Implant Approved for U.S. Patients). In its current form, the system transmits image data from a camera to a 60-pixel implant in the retina. However, the company is talking about a future version of the system that bypasses the eye altogether and instead sends the image information directly into the visual cortex. But despite such progress, Greenberg and many other presenters made clear that much of how the brain worksand what happens when things go wrongremains a mystery. The U.S. … Continue reading →

by KING 5 HealthLink KING5.com Posted on September 26, 2013 at 2:51 PM It can happen in an instant and change lives forever. Close to two million people are affected by traumatic brain injury every year. Worldwide, it's a major cause of death and disability. Now, researchers hope something that our body produces naturally can help bring the first-ever TBI treatment to those who need it. "The car went into the back of a parked 18 wheeler," said Lester Talley, who had a traumatic brain injury. Health issues lead to Talley's near-fatal accident. The husband and father of two suffered a serious traumatic brain injury. "There really is no definitive therapy for the treatment of acute brain injury," said Dr. Daniel Laskowitz, Professor Medicine (Neurology), Neurobiology & Anesthesiology Director, Neurovascular Laboratories at Duke University Medical Center. Lester's wife feared the worst. "It seemed like my world was coming to an end," says Lester wife, Ashley Talley. Originally posted here: Pregnancy hormone studied to treat traumatic brain injuries … Continue reading →

NEW YORK, Sept. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --MDL No. 2323 the NFL Players' Concussion Litigation has reached settlement with a degree of controversy. The premise of liability and the extent to which the NFL owed its players a duty to warn amid now decades of private medical research, was likely one of the most difficult and publicized TBI litigations in recent years. While the league is positioned to carry on 'business as usual' this season, it is disappointing not to see the claims of the former NFL players tested at trial with a jury. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130912/NY77185LOGO ) The term "traumatic brain injury" (TBI) covers a wide range of severity. Less obvious and more difficult to diagnose and prove are mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs), characterized by short and mild interruptions of normal brain activity and no change to normal mental status after the injury commonly called concussions. An obvious risk to participants of the game of football and other contact sports, but sometimes a not so obvious a risk in personal injury cases. Attorneys well versed in MVA litigation have made this consideration for years in their cases, but client intake for other case types should also look for signs of … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health Article Date: 25 Sep 2013 - 0:00 PDT Current ratings for: Dextrose gel could treat hypoglycemia in newborns A new study suggests that dextrose gel should be used to treat low blood sugars in newborn babies (neonatal-hypoglycemia) - a common and preventable cause of brain damage. Dextrose gel is an oral glucose gel, already used as form of treatment for reversal of hypoglycemia in diabetics. But researchers from New Zealand say the gel could be a cheap, effective and easy-to-use treatment for hypoglycemic newborn infants. At present, treatment for late preterm and term babies suffering from hypoglycemia involves additional feeding and repeated blood tests in order to measure blood sugar levels. However, many babies are admitted to intensive care and given intravenous glucose as a result of continuous low blood sugar levels. According to the Yale School of Medicine, around 1 in 3 newborn babies suffer from hypoglycemia. Newborns are at higher risk of the condition if the mother is diabetic, if they are small for their gestational age, or if they are growth-restricted, preterm or born under significant stress. Severe or prolonged hypoglycemia … Continue reading →

(PRWEB) September 25, 2013 Since 2009, Stretch for Life has been enabling persons with stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) to regain feeling and function. The process involves full body stretching, massage, acupressure, strength training coupled with mental focus, breathing and visualization to eliminate spasticity and restore feeling and muscle function. The procedure is effective even years after a stroke or TBI. Once the habitually tight muscles have been coaxed into relaxing, the relaxation is permanent. The process begins as a series of treatments to relax the tight muscles and continues as a relearning to use the atrophied muscles. Lastly, the procedure involves exercises to restore strength and coordination. "By pretreating a client with perispinally administered etanercept (Enbrel), we vastly speed up the entire process and obtain results that would not be possible without the Enbrel," stated Phillip Koss developer of http://www.strechforlife.com. For example, an individual with stroke who is completely unable to walk and confined to a wheelchair could, after a series of daily treatments over several months, walk with a walker or even crutches. When such an individual is pretreated with perispinally administered Enbrel, the treatment is shortened from several months to a few weeks and the individual … Continue reading →

Sep. 23, 2013 Whether you're nervous about the consequences of your teenager's concussion, you're worried about your aging parents and the anxieties associated with the threat of dementia, or your own bouts of forgetfulness, many of us are rightfully concerned about our brain health. Using the neighborhood gym as a model, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's new Brain Fit Club offers members a way to support brain health by devising personalized workout routines designed to keep each member's brain limber and active. An individual Brain Fit Club workout routine might involve a combination of scientifically-validated computerized cognitive training, brain stimulation, nutritional coaching, mindfulness training, sleep and lifestyle education, gait and balance evaluation and treatment, and group classes in meditation, tai chi and gentle yoga designed to target a full range of cognitive struggles or decline. "At BIDMC we have nearly 40 years of experience in expertly diagnosing and treating disorders of cognition," says Albert Galaburda, MD, Chief of Cognitive Neurology. "Through research here and elsewhere we know that there's a lot to be gained from pairing traditional treatments like medication with special kinds of exercises, and we're very excited to offer this comprehensive approach to our patients." The concept underlying … Continue reading →

Public release date: 23-Sep-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News New Rochelle, NY, September 23, 2013Moderate reductions in body temperature can improve outcomes after a person suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI). New research that identifies positive effects of mild hypothermia on brain tissue is presented in an article published in Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management website at http://www.liebertpub.com/ther. The article "Effects of Mild Hypothermia Treatment on Rat Hippocampal -Amyloid Expression Following Traumatic Brain Injury" coauthored by Shi-Xiang Cheng, Sai Zhang, Hong-Tao Sun, and Yue Tu, Logistics College of the Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Tianjin, China, is part of a special issue of Therapeutic Hypothermia and Temperature Management highlighting research conducted in China. Ji-Yao Jiang, PhD, MD, Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, is Guest Editor of the special issue. Cheng et al. compared the effects of normal temperature and hypothermia on rats with TBI. The animals treated with hypothermia had significantly improved behavioral scores and a greater number of surviving neurons compared to the normothermia group. … Continue reading →

Scientists found no significant benefit to a popular idea of using a pressurized chamber to force oxygen into the brain to heal mild brain injuries suffered by tens of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans, according to a scientific study by the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs published this week. "There's no magic bullet," David Cifu, VA national director for physical medicine and rehabilitation services. "We wished it worked. ... But it didn't work." The study results leave the military and the VA without any tool for directly treating an injury characterized as a "signature wound" of the two wars. Some troops exposed to several roadside bombs during operations had more than one mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) or concussion from exposure to blasts. More than 230,000 troops have suffered mild TBI since 2000, according to the Pentagon. Ten percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans at the VA report ongoing mild brain injury symptoms such as headaches, light sensitivity and problem-solving deficits. The hyperbaric chamber thought to be an answer is identical to decompression chambers used to treat divers suffering from the bends or decompression sickness. A group of private doctors contend they have used hyperbaric chambers to … Continue reading →

Courtesy Carlson Family James Steven Carlson, a 2004 graduate of Salt Lake Countys Skyline High School, is pictured at the Salt Lake City Airport after returning from his first leave. An Army infantryman who was in on some of the Iraq Wars most heated fighting, Carlson was found dead last weekend in a motel room in Murray. When soldiers die in war, a grieving family reels from the suddenness of death. But when a soldier like James Steven Carlson dies slowly after a war, his brain forever rattled, his anxiety unrelenting and conscience seared, a familys pain is no less acute. The 27-year-old Carlson, who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, was laid to rest Friday at the Utah Veterans Cemetery by his parents, siblings, wife and two sons. "I always kind of knew this day would come," his father, Steve Carlson, told an LDS Stake Center filled with mourners Friday. "Its a day Id hoped would never come." Carlsons body was found last Saturday in a rented room in Murray where hed been staying for six weeks, waiting for a slot in an intensive treatment program at the George E. Wahlen Veterans Administration Medical Center in Salt Lake … Continue reading →