Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Posted by John McKigganFebruary 20, 2013 1:00 PM Who would have thought suffering hypothermia could be a good thing? Recent research from the University of Edinburgh has shown it could potentially save lives and prevent brain damage. What is Hypothermia? Hypothermia occurs when the core body temperature drops below the levels required for the bodily to function. As the body temperature drops below these levels, the physiological systems shut down and the heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure decrease. This is not usually a good thing. However, for patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries, inducing hypothermia can have the effect of reducing damage to the brain. The New England Journal of Medicine reports on a controlled study in which 155 patients with head injuries were treated. Of the 155 patients, 82 were treated with hypothermia within 6-hours after the injury. The study concluded that treatment with moderate hypothermia for a period of 24 hours, initiated soon after the injury, significantly improved the outcomes in patients with certain injuries. Doesn't Work in All Cases While studies have shown that inducing hypothermia may improve the outcomes for patients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries, it appears that the results depend on … Continue reading →

For six years, the U.S. Army has been using sensors embedded in soldiers' helmets to learn more about how servicemembers sustain concussions and other brain injuries. The device resembles an Apple computer mouse and is designed by an Orange County, Calif. company as an early warning system to document devastating injuries that aren't always visible. Known as HEADS, the gadget contains a sensor and data recorder that is glued into a soldier's helmet. The device sits dormant until a blow is detected, then it measures and records acceleration information. That data later is downloaded through a USB cable to offer medical experts a better understanding of what happened at the moment of impact. "It will hopefully someday help them to diagnose traumatic brain injuries, and help get guys medical attention when they need it, or learn how to make the helmets better," says mechanical engineer Steve Pruitt Pruitt is the president and co-founder of Diversified Technical Systems (DTS), a data recorder and sensor manufacturer based in Seal Beach. In 2007, his DTS team created the high-tech sensor that is helping the Army understand how explosive forces can lead to concussions. The National Football League is using that same type of … Continue reading →

Feb. 11, 2013 A new type of prophylactic treatment for brain injury following prolonged epileptic seizures has been developed by Emory University School of Medicine investigators. Status epilepticus, a persistent seizure lasting longer than 30 minutes [check this, some people say FIVE], is potentially life-threatening and leads to around 55,000 deaths each year in the United States. It can be caused by stroke, brain tumor or infection as well as inadequate control of epilepsy. Physicians or paramedics now treat status epilepticus by administering an anticonvulsant or general anesthesia, which stops the seizures. Researchers at Emory have been looking for something different: anti-inflammatory compounds that can be administered after acute status epilepticus has ended to reduce damage to the brain. They have discovered a potential lead compound that can reduce mortality when given to mice after drug-induced seizures. The results were recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition. "For adults who experience a period of status epilepticus longer than one hour, more than 30 percent die within four weeks of the event, making this a major medical problem," says Ray Dingledine, PhD, chair of the Department of Pharmacology at Emory University School of Medicine. "Medications that … Continue reading →

Public release date: 11-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Phyllis Brown phyllis.brown@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-734-9023 University of California - Davis Health System Vascular brain injury from conditions such as high blood pressure and stroke are greater risk factors for cognitive impairment among non-demented older people than is the deposition of the amyloid plaques in the brain that long have been implicated in conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, a study by researchers at the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at UC Davis has found. Published online early today in JAMA Neurology (formerly Archives of Neurology), the study found that vascular brain injury had by far the greatest influence across a range of cognitive domains, including higher-level thinking and the forgetfulness of mild cognitive decline. The researchers also sought to determine whether there was a correlation between vascular brain injury and the deposition of beta amyloid () plaques, thought to be an early and important marker of Alzheimer's disease, said Bruce Reed, associate director of the UC Davis Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in Martinez, Calif. They also sought to decipher what effect each has on memory and executive functioning. "We looked at two questions," said Reed, professor in the Department of Neurology at … Continue reading →

Public release date: 7-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Stephanie Desmon sdesmon@jhmi.edu 410-955-8665 Johns Hopkins Medicine In an update to previous research, Johns Hopkins neurologists say minimally invasive delivery of the drug tPA directly into potentially lethal blood clots in the brain helped more patients function independently a year after suffering an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), a deadly and debilitating form of stroke. Rates of functional recovery with the active tPA treatment far surpassed those achieved with standard "supportive" therapy that essentially gives clots a chance to shrink on their own. In the current Johns Hopkins-led study, ICH patients who randomly received the minimally invasive surgery to deliver a drug designed to dissolve their golf ball-sized clots went home from the hospital an average of 38 days sooner than those receiving supportive therapy. In addition to the health benefits, the tPA therapy, and resulting shortened hospital stay, led to a savings of an estimated $44,000 per patient, the researchers say. ICH has long been considered surgically untreatable under most circumstances; roughly 50 percent of people who have such a stroke die from it. "This is the most promising treatment that has come along in the last 30 or 40 … Continue reading →

Feb. 7, 2013 Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI), including concussion, is one of the most common types of neurological disorder, affecting approximately 1.3 million Americans annually. It has received more attention recently because of its frequency and impact among two groups of patients: professional athletes, especially football players; and soldiers returning from mid-east conflicts with blast-related TBI. An estimated 10 to 20 percent of the more than 2 million U.S. soldiers deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan have experienced TBI. A recent study by psychiatrists from the Iowa City VA Medical Center and University of Iowa Health Care finds that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mild TBI have measurable abnormalities in the white matter of their brains when compared to returning veterans who have not experienced TBI. These abnormalities appear to be related to the severity of the injury and are related to cognitive deficits. The findings were published online in December in the American Journal of Psychiatry. "In the military population we studied, patients with TBI have more alterations, sometimes called 'potholes,' in the white matter of their brains than patients without a history of TBI," says senior study author Ricardo Jorge, M.D., UI professor of psychiatry. "The … Continue reading →

Groundbreaking new treatment dissolves 'golf ball-sized' clots Patients who use drugs had less disability a year later, study says Clots removed in 50 per cent of patients given medication, compared to just 5 per cent receiving standard care By Jenny Hope PUBLISHED: 20:26 EST, 7 February 2013 | UPDATED: 02:58 EST, 8 February 2013 Groundbreaking: New treatment which sees drugs inserted in the brain of stroke victims could help thousands who suffer a brain haemorrhage (file picture Surgeons are inserting drugs in the brain of stroke victims to dissolve golf ball-sized clots in a groundbreaking new treatment. The technique could help thousands of patients who suffer a bleeding stroke, or brain haemorrhage, for which there is currently no surgical treatment. A study shows that clots were removed in 50 per cent of patients given medication directly into the brain, compared with just 5 per cent of patients receiving standard care. Patients having surgery using clot-buster drugs had significantly less disability a year later, according to research presented at the American Stroke Associations annual conference. Bleeding strokes in the brain affect one in seven stroke victims in the UK about 20,000 a year and occur when a weakened blood vessel in … Continue reading →

Public release date: 5-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Sandy Van sandy@prpacific.com 808-526-1708 Cedars-Sinai Medical Center LOS ANGELES (Feb. 5, 2013) An international multicenter clinical trial led by a Cedars-Sinai neurologist on the combination of brain cooling and "clot-busting" drug therapy after stroke has received Food and Drug Administration approval to expand from 50 patients to 400. "This approval is highly significant because, after reviewing our initial safety data, the Food and Drug Administration approved us to include more patients in our study," said Patrick D. Lyden, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the study's overall principal investigator. Thomas Hemmen, MD, PhD, director of the University of California, San Diego Health System Stroke Center, and James C. Grotta, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), are co-principal investigators. This study, which includes the use of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA), the only FDA-approved treatment for acute stroke, is the latest in a series of clinical trials on brain cooling controlled hypothermia to reduce neurological damage after stroke. Researchers employ a state-of-the-art system to provide rapid heat exchange and very fast … Continue reading →

Feb. 6, 2013 U.S. soldiers in combat often suffer constricted blood vessels and increased pressure in the brain -- significant complications of traumatic brain injuries, according to research presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2013. "Research shows that traumatic brain injury is a hallmark of recent military conflicts, affecting nearly a third of all wounded soldiers," said Alexander Razumovsky, Ph.D., lead researcher and director of Sentient NeuroCare Services in Hunt Valley, Md. Constricted blood vessels in the brain are cerebral vasospasm. Abnormally high pressure in the brain is intracranial hypertension. A transcranial Doppler ultrasound is a non-invasive, inexpensive and portable way to assess these complications. To better understand how common these complications are among soldiers, Razumovsky and colleagues analyzed data of 122 traumatic brain injury patients who had transcranial Doppler testing. Among them, 88 had penetrating head injuries and 34 had closed head injuries. Researchers found: "What we've found is applicable and important to civilian traumatic brain injury patients, given that a significant number of them will have posttraumatic bleeding that will lead to vasospasm and intracranial hypertension," Razumovsky said. "Tracking and managing these patients is important, and therefore daily transcranial Doppler studies are recommended for recognition … Continue reading →

Email Barbara D. Livingston It is uncertain how long Ramon Dominguez will have to remain at his rehabilitation facility. Jockey Ramon Dominguez has begun a brain injury rehabilitation program at a hospital in White Plains, N.Y., as he continues to recover from a fractured skull he suffered in a spill at Aqueduct last month. Last Wednesday, Dominguez was transferred from New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan to the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital. It is uncertain how long he will have to remain at Burke. "Ramon continues to do well and is improving every day," Sharon Dominguez, Ramon's wife, said in a press release issued through the New York Racing Association. "He was transferred to Burke on Wednesday, completed initial evaluations on Thursday, and started a brain injury rehabilitation program on Friday. "As Ramon takes the next steps in his treatment, he and I would like to thank everyone again for the continued support and prayers." Dominguez added. "Although his injury will take time to heal, Ramon is on the road to a full recovery." Dominguez, 36, was injured in a spill at Aqueduct on Jan. 18 when the horse he was riding, Convocation, clipped heels with a horse in … Continue reading →