Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Ted Dwane, bassist for the musical group Mumford & Sons, has a blood clot on the surface of his brain, which requires him to have emergency surgery, according to news reports. HuffPost Entertainment reported that the blood clot was discovered via a scan after he reported not feeling well. Because of Dwane's surgery, the group has canceled concerts this week. According to the American Society of Hematology, symptoms of a blood clot in the brain include seizures, speech problems, visual disturbances and weakness. Depending on where the clot is located in the body, treatment could range from blood-clot dissolving medicines or blood-clot preventing medicines, to surgery. Blood clots usually form when your blood vessels experience injury, and dissolve away once the injury is healed; however, sometimes the clots form in non-injured blood vessels, or don't dissolve completely, according to the American Society of Hematology. The Mayo Clinic reported that blood clots can also break off and travel to other parts of the body, such as the lungs (which causes life-threatening pulmonary embolism) and the brain (which can lead to stroke if an artery that supplies blood to the brain is blocked by the clot). There are numerous risk factors for … Continue reading →

Traumatic Brain Injury Patients Treated with Anti-Spasm Agent Partially Recover from Disorders of Consciousness At the International Neuromodulation Societys 11th World Congress, Dr. Stefanos Korfias of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Athens will present the results of a clinical study led by Professor Damianos Sakas, which showed that two of six in-patients studied at Evangelismos Hospital in Athens steadily emerged from minimally conscious state after receiving intrathecal baclofen (ITB) after traumatic brain injury. The drug relaxes spasticity that can result from brain injury and may be used to facilitate care, but is not normally used to restore function. The patients, a 24-year-old man and a 29-year-old man, had been in minimally conscious states for three years and 18 months, respectively. Their scores on a revised coma recovery scale (with a maximum of 23) increased from 10 19 and 11 22, respectively. Minimally conscious state is defined as a consciousness disorder in which a patient shows fluctuating, but not reproducible, signs of self-awareness and the surroundings. Most patients in a minimally conscious state also have moderate to severe spasticity as a result of their injuries. Dr. Konstantinos Margetis, who contributed significantly to this study, notes that some sporadic … Continue reading →

June 12, 2013 At the International Neuromodulation Society's 11th World Congress, Dr. Stefanos Korfias of the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Athens will present the results of a clinical study led by Professor Damianos Sakas, which showed that two of six in-patients studied at Evangelismos Hospital in Athens steadily emerged from minimally conscious state after receiving intrathecal baclofen (ITB) after traumatic brain injury. The drug relaxes spasticity that can result from brain injury and may be used to facilitate care, but is not normally used to restore function. The patients, a 24-year-old man and a 29-year-old man, had been in minimally conscious states for three years and 18 months, respectively. Their scores on a revised coma recovery scale (with a maximum of 23) increased from 10 -- 19 and 11 -- 22, respectively. Minimally conscious state is defined as a consciousness disorder in which a patient shows fluctuating, but not reproducible, signs of self-awareness and the surroundings. Most patients in a minimally conscious state also have moderate to severe spasticity as a result of their injuries. Dr. Konstantinos Margetis, who contributed significantly to this study, notes that some sporadic case reports have suggested a potential beneficial effect of … Continue reading →

Public release date: 10-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Lauren Scrivo LScrivo@KesslerFoundation.org 973-324-8384 Kessler Foundation WEST ORANGE, N.J.The New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research awarded two grants to scientists at Kessler Foundation to study emotional processing deficits in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the effects of aerobic exercise on memory impairments after TBI. The grants exceeded $500,000. "With the support of the Commission, we look forward to expanding our knowledge of how the brain functions after brain injury and developing treatments that improve the function of individuals with TBI," said Nancy Chiaravalloti, Ph.D., director of TBI and Neuropsychology & Neuroscience Research at Kessler Foundation. "Aerobic exercise, if proven effective, is cost-effective, natural and readily available, so individuals have control of their rehabilitation. These studies incorporate brain imaging at the new Neuroimaging Center at Kessler Foundation, which shows the importance of gathering objective data to make innovative rehabilitation interventions widely accessible." Jeanne Lengenfelder, Ph.D., assistant director of Neuropsychology Research, was awarded $397,941 for three years to evaluate impaired emotional processing in individuals with TBI (CBIR13IRG026). Unable to recognize facial expressions and social cues, they often have difficulty maintaining personal relationships. Dr. Lengenfelder and Research Scientist Helen … Continue reading →

Published: 7:34AM Saturday June 08, 2013 Source: Fairfax Carla Grobler, of Paraparaumu, and her daughter, Amelia Grobler Barrington, 3, who was left brain-damaged after a serious medical mishap - Source: Fairfax After winning a 3-year battle with ACC on behalf of her brain-damaged daughter, Carla Grobler feels like the war is only just beginning. In 2009, Grobler gave birth to a girl in Christchurch Hospital. Soon afterwards, the baby, named Amelia, developed seizures and was diagnosed with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy - a brain injury caused by a deprivation of oxygen. Several hours before delivery, Grobler was running a high fever. During the delivery, a doctor had difficulty turning the baby into the correct position. A caesarean section was ordered but a midwife had forgotten to inform the anaesthetist that Grobler had previously experienced problems with an epidural. This resulted in Grobler being able to feel the scalpel as the procedure began, leading to another delay in delivery while a general anaesthetic was administered. When baby Amelia finally arrived, she had to be resuscitated and soon began suffering seizures. But ACC declined Grobler's injury claim after it received medical advice that chorioamnionitis, a bacterial infection, could have been the cause of … Continue reading →

By Chelsea Conaboy / Globe Staff/ June 7, 2013 A group of Boston doctors is proposing to study an emergency treatment for brain-injured patients without obtaining the trauma victims consent, arguing that they often arrive at the hospital unconscious or without family members who can speak on their behalf. Federal law and the ethics of medical research require that patients or their surrogates be told about any risks of participating in a study and have the chance to refuse enrollment. But the law allows for an exemption in certain cases involving emergency care. This would be the first such study conducted at Boston hospitals since the US Food and Drug Administration created the rules allowing for it in 1996. Copyright 2013 Globe Newspaper Company. Get the full story with unlimited access to BostonGlobe.com. Just 99 for 4 weeks. Get Access Now Go here to see the original: Researchers look to conduct research without consent in brain injury study … Continue reading →

Marijuana continues to be a paradox as it makes its way from illicit drug to wonder medicine being used to treat a number of symptoms and disorders more safely than traditional pharmaceuticals. In the latest news, cannabis, which has been associated with long-term cognitive deficits in chronic users, is now being tested as a treatment to preserve brain function after traumatic injury. Amidst the many it-damages-your-brain studies, some reports have shown that cannabis has neuroprotective effects. Studies have suggested that it has protective effects in neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimers, Huntingtons and Parkinsons diseases. The author of the new study, Dr. Yosef Sarne of Tel Aviv University's Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases, theorized that ultra-low doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive component of marijuana, induces minor damage to the brain, which may actually precondition the brain to protect it against more severe damage from injuries such as lack of oxygen, seizures or toxic drug exposure. In other words, it may act as a sort of vaccine against more traumatic harm. In Dr. Sarne's animal study, published in the journals Behavioural Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, researchers injected mice with a single, very low dose … Continue reading →

(PRWEB) June 07, 2013 In a landmark study published in the Journal Neuropsychopharmacology, Susana G. Torres-Platas analyzed the brains of suicide victims and concludes: "The presence of hypertrophic astrocytes in BA24 white matter is consistent with reports suggesting white matter alterations in depression, and provides further support to the neuroinflammatory theory of depression." * Suicide is a serious problem for U.S. military personnel who have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI). According to an article published May 15, 2013 in JAMA Psychiatry, "Risks of suicidal thoughts in soldiers rises with the number of TBIs they experience - both in the short term and over a person's lifetime." **The standard treatment protocol Neurological Wellness Center physicians employ for individuals who have experienced TBI and have no overt physical symptoms is just four perispinal injections of 25 mg etanercept over 16 day period coupled with oral minocycline 100 mg 2X daily for 50 days. "This treatment interrupts a self-perpetuating cycle of inflammation that can persist for years after the injury," Rolando Hernandez M.D. neurosurgeon for Neurological Wellness Center. This dosage of Enbrel is quite low compared to the recommended dose for moderate rheumatic psoriasis. This dose of minocycline is the same as that … Continue reading →

Queensland scientists will begin clinical trials of treatment for spinal cord injuries after discovering dramatic improvements in balance and coordination when blocking a protein. Researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR), and the University of Melbourne showed that blocking protein EphA4 could rapidly restore the balance and limb coordination of models with spinal injuries. QBI Director and study co-leader, Professor Perry Bartlett said the research confirmed and expanded on previous studies showing that blocking the action of this protein receptor prevented the loss of nerve tissue following injury and promoted repair. Professor Bartlett and QIMR Professor Andrew Boyd identified the role of EphA4 in 1998. They showed that the EphA4 protein was critical to the development of the nerves which control walking and other complex muscle functions. Subsequent studies showed that after a spinal cord injury, the production of the EphA4 protein was increased and this protein acted to stop severed nerve endings from regrowing through the injury site. Professor Boyds laboratory at QIMR, working with Professor Bartletts lab at UQ, then developed a decoy protein, to block, or inhibit EphA4 function. This has been used to improve recovery of function after spinal … Continue reading →

Lets just say my inbox has been hit hard by people including several current and former NHL players who want to know more about the GyroStim, which I profiled in Sundays paper. There was a lot of stuff I couldnt get into the final version of the print story, including the fact that former Dallas Cowboys stars Tony Dorsett, Randy White and Darren Woodson are now singing the spinning machines praises, after years of head/brain injury problems. Sidney Crosby and Joey Hishon arent the only NHL players who have credited the machine for their recovery from severe concussions. Ottawas Guillaume Latendresse, not mentioned in the story, also said the GyroStim cured his concussion and I know the word cure is a bit strong, but I dont really know what else to call it. A lot of people, therefore, were excited to read about this new technology. And there is more to come from its inventor, Kevin Maher of Colorado Springs. Another thing that didnt make the story is about his new machine called the Performa that promises to improve the spatial awareness of normal, healthy athletes. Maher said he already has sold the machine to one of the biggest teams … Continue reading →