Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

By John Barry, Times Staff Writer John BarryTampa Bay Times In Print: Saturday, September 15, 2012 TAMPA A brain-damaged Marine captain who was promised treatment rather than prison after he killed another motorist while driving drunk in 2010 wept Friday when he learned that a knot of red tape in two states stands between him and his medical care. After an hour of brainstorming, even a judge, his defense attorney and a prosecutor could only partly untangle the knot. "Imagine what chance the average injured veteran would have without all this help," said John Fitzgibbons, the attorney for Scott Sciple, the Marine who suffers from traumatic brain injury. "None." Shortly after his transfer to MacDill Air Force Base in August 2010, Sciple drove the wrong way on Interstate 275, killing a 48-year-old father of five. His blood-alcohol level was three times the level at which the state presumes someone is impaired. Last year, the Marine Corps made an extraordinary admission that it failed to diagnose and treat Sciple for his combat-related brain injuries and never should have sent him to MacDill. In May, the widow of crash victim Pedro Rivera told a judge she was convinced Sciple needed medical care … Continue reading →

Newswise ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. (September 12, 2012) The latest issue of AANS Neurosurgeon (Vol. 21, Issue No. 3) assesses the use of decompressive craniectomy to treat children who have sustained traumatic brain injury (TBI). AANS Neurosurgeon the American Association of Neurological Surgeons quarterly online magazine is now available at http://www.aansneurosurgeon.org. The article, The Role of Decompressive Craniectomy for Traumatic Brain Injury in Children, poses the scenario of a five-year-old who suffers a head injury after being struck by a hit-and-run driver. Written by AANS Neurosurgeon Editorial Board Member Andrew Jea, MD, FAANS; and co-authors Chris D. Glover, MD; and Timothy C. Lee, MD, for the publications Gray Matters section, the piece notes a scarcity of investigations that evaluate a craniectomys effectiveness in treating young TBI patients. Within the case study, neurosurgical professionals are prompted to a complete a brief survey asking how they would treat the patient themselves. Gray Matters is a regular section of AANS Neurosurgeon in which doctors present neurosurgical cases and ask readers to chime in on how they would handle each scenario. Recent Gray Matters articles include A Case of Symptomatic Carotid Stenosis (http://www.aansneurosurgeon.org/210212/10/1614) and Case of a Grade III Intraventricular Hemorrhage of Prematurity (http://www.aansneurosurgeon.org/210112/10/1223). Although … Continue reading →

Bob Albrecht Columbian files A fire started by a Sifton teen, Alex Michael Smith, destroyed this house the morning of May 13, 2011. Smith was found guilty Wednesday of first-degree arson. By Laura McVicker Columbian Staff Reporter Wednesday, September 12, 2012 Alex Michael Smith suffered a traumatic brain injury eight days before he allegedly burned his family's house down in May 2011. The question before a Clark County judge on Wednesday: Did the Sifton teenager's brain injury prevent him from forming the legal intent to commit first-degree arson? Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis said the evidence was clear: Smith acted "knowingly and maliciously." "He intended to do it," the judge said. "He was aware his actions were going to cause the fire." After hearing testimony in the daylong trial, Lewis found Smith, now 17, guilty of first-degree arson. The teen will be sentenced on Oct. 2. In juvenile court, judges, not juries, decide a defendant's fate. Read more: Sifton teen guilty of setting his home on fire … Continue reading →

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pate Rehabilitation, delivering evidence-based treatment and support programs for individuals recovering from acquired brain injuries (ABIs), today announced the grand opening of Savanna Oaks Ranch, its latest residential facility located in Fort Worth, Texas. The ribbon cutting event will take place on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 232 Bens Trail, Fort Worth, Texas 76120. It will feature informative speeches, a health fair and giveaways for visitors from the local community. To emphasize that every 16 seconds a person suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the United States, TryMunity.com, a social networking site for traumatic brain injury survivors, will give away a BMX bicycle and helmet every 16 minutes from 1:00 to 3:00 during the event. The drawing is open to all attendees and winners must be available to take the prize home that day. For attending rehabilitation professionals, Pate is providing a Continuing Education Unit (CEU) course at 12:15 p.m., which includes an overview of brain anatomy, types of brain injury, complications and treatment titled The Brain, Brain Injury and Recovery. The course will be free to the first 50 who pre-register. To enroll visit http://www.pate.splashthat.com or call 800-992-1149. Savanna Oaks Ranch … Continue reading →

Newswise While involvement in school sports is probably one of the healthiest things, physically and mentally, your child can do, the pressure to play harder and practice longer brings an increased risk of head injury. Medical, sports and school communities are all taking a serious new look at how to treat concussions caused by a hit to, or shaking of, the head. Falls during equestrian, cheerleading and gymnastics events are producing concussions at an increasing rate, along with the more obvious contact sports like football and soccer. A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury (or TBI) and it is similar to a stroke in that both affect normal brain function and may have similar symptoms, explained Neurologist Frederick Nahm, MD, PhD, and head of the Stroke Center at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut.. Immediate symptoms may include confusion, disorientation and sometimes falling unconscious. Ignoring these symptoms is outright dangerous. During a game, your adrenaline is going and youre pumped up, so its easy to brush it off. But whether you bump your head during sports, a car accident, a fall or during military activity, it may not be until that night or a few days later that you … Continue reading →

By David Armstrong - 2012-09-10T10:00:00Z A Florida brain-injury facility accused of abusive and substandard practices is fighting a state order to move out scores of patients, saying regulators are overstepping their authority. The Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation, located 50 miles southeast of Tampa in rural Wauchula, told the state Friday that it would not begin the process of discharging any patients until a judge hears an appeal it filed on Aug. 28. That action, before the Division of Administrative Hearings, alleges state regulators exceeded their authority in ordering the removal of patients and acted in an arbitrary and capricious way. The dispute stems from a surprise inspection last month by three state agencies. Regulators moved in after Bloomberg News reported on dozens of cases of alleged abuse and neglect at the for-profit facility, known as FINR. Patients families or state agencies have accused the centers staffers of abuse or care lapses in at least five residents deaths since 1998, two of them in the last two years. Michelle Dahnke, a spokeswoman for the states Agency for Health Care Administration, which was sent FINRs response, declined to comment. State investigators determined FINR was breaching its license by treating 50 patients … Continue reading →

Novi, MI (PRWEB) September 10, 2012 Dr. Randall Benson will present on the latest techniques in neuroimaging at the North American Brain Injury Societys (NABISs) 25th Annual Conference on Legal Issues in Brain Injury, September 13-15, in Miami, FL. Dr. Benson is nationally recognized for his research into traumatic brain injury (TBI). In 2010, Benson testified before the U.S. Congress Judiciary Committee on his research into neuroimaging of retired National Football League (NFL) players. Earlier this week, the NFL announced it had granted $30 million to the National Institutes of Health for medical research. The announcement followed research that suggests NFL players are at higher risk of death from brain disorder than the general population. Dr. Benson holds a dual fellowship in behavioral neurology and functional neuroimaging from Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his residency training in neurology at the Boston University School of Medicine. A board-certified neurologist and medical director at the Center for Neurological Studies (CNS), he has authored or co-authored numerous research articles in juried publications, has spoken on the topic of brain injury/disorder around the world, and has been and is involved in significant research projects. At the NABIS conference, Dr. Bensons presentation will focus on … Continue reading →

The Fort Detrick-based Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs on Friday announced $100 million in grants to fund research into the diagnosis and treatment of combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury. The money follows an executive order issued by the White House on Aug. 31 that calls for expanded mental health services for members of the military, veterans and their families. The departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are funding the research, CDMRP spokeswoman Gail Whitehead said. Two consortia, one to focus on PTSD and another on mild TBI, are to be set up. Investigators from a number of organizations, including the Defense Department, VA and academia, are expected to collaborate on the work, which will take place over five years, Col. Dallas Hack, director of the Combat Casualty Care Research Program at Detrick, said Friday. The Army has grappled with PTSD and mild TBI in recent years. The long-term health consequences for those who suffer are not well understood. "We didn't want a single (consortium) to try to be everything to everybody," Hack said. More than 2 million service members have deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq since Sept. 11, 2001. The Army estimates that as many as … Continue reading →

Newswise Keith Yeates, PhD, director of the Center for Biobehavioral Health in The Research Institute at Nationwide Childrens Hospital, has been designated lead neuropsychologist for a five-year, multisite study of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among United States children, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grant is for approximately $2.75 million. We know surprisingly little about the effects of treatment on the outcomes of traumatic brain injury in children and adolescents, said Dr. Yeates. The results of this study should help us provide parents of children with TBI with better evidence-based recommendations for their childrens care. The study will include children 8 to 18 years and is designed to examine the effect of treatment during the acute, short-term and longer-term phases of care on the functional, psychosocial and disability outcomes after traumatic brain injury. The study consortium involves investigators at Harborview Medical Center and Seattle Childrens Hospital, Texas Childrens Hospital, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, and Nationwide Childrens. In addition to his role as the studys lead neuropsychologist, Dr. Yeates, also a faculty member at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, will also serve as Nationwide Childrens principal investigator on the grant. View post: CDC Traumatic Brain … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (Sep. 7, 2012) New research offers a possible strategy for treating central nervous system diseases, such as brain and spinal cord injury, brain cancer, epilepsy, and neurological complications of HIV. The experimental treatment method allows small therapeutic agents to safely cross the blood-brain barrier in laboratory rats by turning off P-glycoprotein, one of the main gatekeepers preventing medicinal drugs from reaching their intended targets in the brain. The findings appeared online Sept. 4 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is the result of a study from scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health. "Many promising drugs fail because they cannot cross the blood-brain barrier sufficiently to provide a therapeutic dose to the brain," said David Miller, Ph.D., head of the Laboratory of Toxicology and Pharmacology at NIEHS, and leader of the team that performed the study. "We hope our new strategy will have a positive impact on people with brain disorders in the future." In a two-pronged approach, the research team first determined that treating rat brain capillaries with the multiple sclerosis drug marketed as Gilenya (fingolimod) stimulated a specific biochemical signaling pathway in the … Continue reading →