Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Colm OMolloy for The Boston Globe Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone (near right) and Dr. Mo Shafi use magnetic stimulation technology to observe brain function on a study participant at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. By Karen Weintraub / Globe Correspondent/ July 14, 2013 Although scoffed at for years, computer games that drill specific skills are gaining currency as a viable treatment for brain conditions and a hedge against normal aging. A growing body of evidence suggests that a brain trained this way will be better equipped to work around damage caused by disease, injury, deficits, or aging just as a physically fit person can better avoid and bounce back from injury. Bonnie Wong, a clinical neuropsychologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and her colleagues are starting what they envision as a gym for the mind, offering brain training exercises specially designed computer games as well as nutritional and lifestyle coaching, social opportunities, and classes in meditation, music, and yoga. Full story for BostonGlobe.com subscribers. Copyright 2013 Globe Newspaper Company. Get the full story with unlimited access to BostonGlobe.com. Just 99 for 4 weeks. Get Access Now Continued here: A gym for the mind: Brain ‘training’ gains currency as treatment for … Continue reading →

WAVERLY, IA. - Laura Baker was in the thick of last year's rolling circus of sweat-stained memories that is the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. She was there among the 10,000 riders who mingled in the shadow of grain elevators, jostled each other in line at roadside pie stands and made fast friends by the time they dipped tires a week later in the Mississippi River. Yet Baker doesn't remember pedaling a single mile. The now 26-year-old University of Denver graduate student and Wartburg College alum rode her inaugural RAGBRAI last year with her father, Tom, a Waverly Realtor. So technically, Baker isn't a newbie - often emblazoned with a virginal "V" on his or her calf muscles and subjected to a week of quirky rituals. But she recalls neither the heat nor the high jinks. Weeks after last year's RAGBRAI, she crashed her bike and suffered a traumatic brain injury that erased six months of her memory. Through a grueling yet remarkable year of recovery, she became determined not only to climb back on her bike, but also to return to RAGBRAI with her dad. "That sort of represented getting back to her previous life, I think," … Continue reading →

Buy your city sticker by midnight or pay a fee tomorrow Buy your city sticker by midnight or pay a fee tomorrow Updated: Monday, July 15 2013 10:37 PM EDT2013-07-16 02:37:37 GMT If you don't have a Chicago city sticker yet, you're less than three hours from paying a hefty fine. If you don't have a Chicago city sticker yet, you're less than three hours from paying a hefty fine. Updated: Monday, July 15 2013 10:17 PM EDT2013-07-16 02:17:19 GMT Attorney General Lisa Madigan says she'll seek another term instead of running for Illinois governor next year. Attorney General Lisa Madigan says she'll seek another term instead of running for Illinois governor next year. Updated: Monday, July 15 2013 9:33 PM EDT2013-07-16 01:33:04 GMT There was a big turnout for this year's Taste of Chicago. There was a big turnout for this year's Taste of Chicago. See the article here: Missing 19-year-old with brain injury located, returned to hospital … Continue reading →

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WANE) One of the two teens injured in a parasailing accident in Florida has arrived in her home state of Indiana. Alexis Fairchild, who suffered from brain and spinal injuries, left Florida on Thursday to drive to the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana (RHI) in Indianapolis where she will enter her next phase of recovery. Click on the video in this story to see extended interviews from Friday's press conference. She will be getting at least three hours of therapy five days a week. She was scheduled to undergo a brain injury assessment on Friday. It is not known how long she be in inpatient care. Once she is released, there will be significant outpatient therapy. Fairchild's father, Michael Fairchild, and Doctor Lisa Lombard said Alexis, who is currently in a back brace, was in good spirits but did not get much sleep last night after a 12 hour drive from Florida. Dr. Lombard said Alexis will be getting the most intense rehabilitation at the facility. Treatment will include physical therapy, occupational therapy , speech therapy and neuropsychology treatment. I think she is very lucky given what has happened to her, Dr. Lombard said. That was a devastating injury, … Continue reading →

As a San Francisco personal injury attorney, over the years, I have seen many brain injuries and spinal injuries, fractures, burns, internal injuries and wrongful deaths. In any community, we attorneys will be exposed to these serious personal injuries over time; however, catastrophic injuries are actually not all that common to the every attorney. What is shocking about the Asiana Airlines crash is how in the space of mere seconds, so many people sustained so many catastrophic injuries. We know that plane crashes are horrific, and we are usually all saddened by the tragic loss of life. We count those in this crash at SFO as lucky because we only have two fatalities so far. But what about the severe life-altering injuries sustained by so many on board? Yes, the passengers have survived, however the toll of catastrophic injuries is very very high. For example, this recent airplane Korean Asiana Airline crash at SFO, resulted in over 180 injuries. Among those serious personal injuries treated by local hospitals were fractured spines, stretched and torn ligaments, internal bleeding, severe fractures needing surgical repair, compound fractures, road rash and head injuries, many permanent and all requiring long-term treatment. Chief Executive Sue Currin … Continue reading →

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. A center in Johnstown that helped rehabilitate veterans suffering from brain injuries has closed. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center located at the Hiram G. Andrews Centerwas apparently shut down last month. And while the Department of Defense says patient care was not affected, it appears dozens of employees may have lost their jobs. 6 News got an exclusive look inside the center in 2011. It housed enough spacious rooms for 20 patients and offered all levels of rehabilitative programs, comprehensive technology and counseling to help veterans suffering from the injuries of war. Now, new of itsclosure comes as a huge disappointment to former patients. "I couldn't have gotten better care," said Kyle Steffen. Steffen said he was treated at the center for about sixmonths after being hit with an I.E.D while on a tour in Afghanistan. "I felt that it really helped me get back on the track," said Steffen. "There were just some different therapies and thingsthat I didn't know about and they really worked with me and they customized it to me." The facility in Johnstown operated with around-the-clock care, helping to re-integratepatients back into the community and back to a normal, civilian life. … Continue reading →

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Huntington Memorial Hospital has become the first hospital in California to acquire wrap-around cooling blankets for use with babies at risk of brain damage. The blankets are used to induce hypothermia, a treatment that may prevent or minimize the long-term consequences of brain injury in newborns. Traditional flat cooling blankets lay under the patient. Conversely, Huntington Hospitals new CureWrap blankets wrap around the babys body and can be positioned as needed. Most importantly the blankets allow parents to hold their babies in their arms during the treatment, which typically lasts four days. With flat blankets parents are not allowed to hold their babies because their body warmth would transfer and interfere with the treatment. When a baby suffers a traumatic brain injury, the body responds in certain ways that can often make the injury more severe, said Jamie W. Powers, M.D., the medical director at Huntington Hospital NICU. Hypothermia may limit some of these harmful responses and improve the outcomes for these tiny patients. Now with our CureWrap blankets, babies and parents are more comfortable; and the cooling process is more precise. Another advantage of CureWrap is that babies are covered up. With a traditional cooling blanket, … Continue reading →

(PRWEB) July 10, 2013 Anecdotal evidence obtained by Neurological Wellness Center physicians appears to confirm this drug combination facilitates improvements in motor impairment, spasticity, sensory impairment and psychological/behavioral function. These drugs are well tolerated, with many patients requesting a continuation of oral minocycline and NAC after completion of their active treatment, according to Rolando Hernandez M.D., neurosurgeon for Neurological Wellness Center "TBI and stroke result in a self-perpetuating cycle of inflammation in the brain. This excess inflammation persists for years or even decades after the injury. This inflammation contributes to a portion of the many impairments our patients experience. Minocycline and NAC reduce inflammation in the brain. Dr. Hernandez believes this drug combination works synergistically with perispinally administered Enbrel. Perispinally administered Enbrel also reduces this inflammation in the brain, facilitating a recovery of function," stated Rolando Hernandez M.D. "Perispinal Enbrel as a TBI and stroke treatment has many attributes. (1) The therapeutic window is wide. A person who's injury occurred a decade ago or even longer may still benefit. (2) The treatment is short term, involving just two to eight injections over a period of eight to forty days, yet the benefits are long lasting. (3) The dosage of Enbrel … Continue reading →

Starting as soon as next month, patients who arrive with a traumatic brain injury to emergency departments at Massachusetts General Hospital or Boston Medical Center could be enrolled in a medical study, possibly without their consent. The trial, which has been approved by institutional review boards at both hospitals, will test whether administering progesterone in the hours immediately after an injury could limit brain damage. Doctors lack proven treatment options for the secondary cascade of injury that follows the initial trauma as cells continue to die, but early studies have shown that the hormone may slow that process. Federal law requires researchers to get approval from the patient or a surrogate before administering an experimental drug. This is the first study approved at Boston hospitals using an exemption created in 1996 to study emergency treatments. The Boston sites will join a national network of 40 hospitals studying the hormone in brain injury. The researchers will obtain consent if the patient can communicate or if family can be located within the hour following the injury. If thats not possible, the medical staff will administer the drug and give the option of pulling out of the trial later. Dr. Elizabeth Hohmann, physician … Continue reading →

If your brain is swelling, either due to infection or physical injury, you're going to need these Headsense cranial monitors more than you need another hole in your head. The fluids in your cranial cavity exerts a specific force on the brain and skull, known as your intracranial pressure (ICP), and help keep your brain from sloshing around in there. Sometimes, however, your ICP can rise due to a knock on the head or a disease like meningoencephalitis, causing the brain to squish against the skull and cut off blood flow to the afflicted regions (effectively causing you to stroke out). Even worse, the best treatment we have is to cut a hole in your skull and insert a catheter to monitor the problem. That sort of invasive intervention leads to all sorts of secondary infections, what with the big hunk of bone missing from the top of your head and all, and as such is only used as a last resort. Right now the main challenge with ICP is that the only good way to monitor it accurately and continuously is the invasive way, says Guy Weinberg, chief executive officer of HeadSense. Headsense is an Israeli startup that has … Continue reading →