Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

In January 2011, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was shot. The shooting captured national attention and since then Gabby has undergone a rigorous and somewhat public recovery and rehabilitation. A large part of her rehabilitation has consisted of intensive speech and language therapy for a communication disorder called aphasia. Aphasia is an acquired communication disorder, meaning that it is acquired through stroke (the most common cause), traumatic brain injury, brain tumor or other neurological causes, rather than being born with it. In America, more than 100,000 people acquire aphasia each year. Overall, 1 in 250 people is affected. It is more common than Parkinsons disease, cerebral palsy or muscular dystrophy. It more commonly occurs in older adults, but it can affect young people as well. Aphasia is the result of damage to areas of the brain responsible for processing language. While language processing is impaired, intelligence typically is not. Speaking, understanding speech, reading and writing are aspects of communication in which a person with aphasia will have the most difficulty. An affected person may experience difficulty with a single aspect of communication or multiple aspects. There are many different types and severity levels of … Continue reading →

Featured Article Academic Journal Main Category: Pain / Anesthetics Also Included In: Neurology / Neuroscience Article Date: 02 Jul 2012 - 5:00 PDT Current ratings for: Chronic Pain Predicted By Brain's Emotional Response 4 (2 votes) 5 (1 votes) Writing about their work in a Brief Communication in Nature Neuroscience, A Vania Apakarian, professor of physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago in the US, and colleagues, show for the first time that the more cross-talk there is between two particular brain regions, the greater the chance of the pain becoming chronic. The two parts of the brain they refer to are the insula, which is active when people have emotional responses to events, and the nucleus accumbens, which plays a role in teaching the brain how to respond to changes in the environment. Apakarian, whose lab has been researching chronic back pain in relation to changes in brain activity for quite a while, told the press: "For the first time we can explain why people who may have the exact same initial pain either go on to recover or develop chronic pain." "The injury by itself is not enough to explain the ongoing pain. It has … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 1, 2012) When people have similar injuries, why do some end up with chronic pain while others recover and are pain free? The first longitudinal brain imaging study to track participants with a new back injury has found the chronic pain is all in their heads -- quite literally. A new Northwestern Medicine study shows for the first time that chronic pain develops the more two sections of the brain -- related to emotional and motivational behavior -- talk to each other. The more they communicate, the greater the chance a patient will develop chronic pain. The finding provides a new direction for developing therapies to treat intractable pain, which affects 30 to 40 million adults in the United States. Researchers were able to predict, with 85 percent accuracy at the beginning of the study, which participants would go on to develop chronic pain based on the level of interaction between the frontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens. The study is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. "For the first time we can explain why people who may have the exact same initial pain either go on to recover or develop chronic pain," said A. Vania Apakarian, senior … Continue reading →

From the outside looking in, Staff Sgt. Brian Murphy is an outspoken, motivated Marine. On the inside, he is learning to come to terms with a traumatic brain injury that is part of his everyday life. Due to the increasing number of Marines being diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries, the Marine Corps is taking a comprehensive approach to treat them by emphasizing our core components: prevent, provide, track and train, states Marine Administrative Message 294/12. A traumatic brain injury is an injury to the head that can either be closed, where you cant actually see the injury, or open, for example where you can see shrapnel sticking out of the head, said Lt. Cmdr. Erin M. Simmons, the department head of Mental Health at the Cherry Point Naval Health Clinic. Murphy sustained his injury while working as a machine gunner in Iraq on Feb. 7, 2005. The Humvee he was in struck a roadside bomb. The administrative chief with Marine Wing Support Squadron 271s explosive ordnance section doesnt remember exactly what happened after the blast, but he remembers the shrapnel lodged into his face. I went to a couple of different medical facilities where I got CAT scans to make … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/g38nbz/traumatic_brain_in) has announced the addition of GlobalData's new report "Traumatic Brain Injury Therapeutics - Pipeline Assessment and Market Forecasts to 2019" to their offering. Need for Further Research into Brain Injuries Creates Opportunities for Pharma. Opportunities exist for pharmaceutical companies to increase their offerings in the traumatic brain injury (TBI) market, as current therapeutic options for TBI patients are not efficient enough to greatly reduce mortality or prevent brain damage, according to a new report released by healthcare intelligence experts GlobalData. The new report* suggests that limited funding for new TBI therapies may be hindering the development of effective medicines to counter the increasing number of injuries and fatalities being caused by falls, car accidents and incidences of violence. The TBI market is a vital part of emergency medicine, requiring therapies that reduce fatalities and prevent further brain damage to reduce resulting disabilities. While increasingly stringent road safety, fire-arm and alcohol consumption laws, and advancements in automation technology hope to reduce the number of serious accidents taking place, TBI remains a major cause of death and disability in the general population. In the US, one third of all injury related deaths are due to TBI, … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) Rhode Island Hospital researcher Suzanne de la Monte, M.D., has found a link between brain insulin resistance (diabetes) and two other key mediators of neuronal injury that help Alzheimer's disease (AD) to propagate. The research found that once AD is established, therapeutic efforts must also work to reduce toxin production in the brain. The study, "Dysfunctional Pro-Ceramide, ER Stress, and Insulin/IGF Signaling Networks with Progression of Alzheimer's Disease", is published in the June 22, 2012, supplement of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common degenerative dementias, and more than 115 million new cases are projected worldwide in the next 40 years. There is clinical and experimental evidence that treatment with insulin or insulin sensitizer agents can enhance cognitive function and in some circumstances help slow the rate of cognitive decline in AD. Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases destroy the brain until the patients finally succumb. In order to effectively halt the process of neurodegeneration, the forces that advance and perpetuate the disease, particularly with regard to the progressive worsening of brain insulin/IGF resistance, must be understood. "Brain insulin resistance (diabetes) is very much like regular diabetes," de la Monte said. … Continue reading →

The New Paper Wednesday, Jun 27, 2012 The plucky seven-year-old girl tried to shield her mother from being attacked by a mentally-ill man wielding a steel shovel. But little Wang Yan, from a village in Anhui province, China, was hit and is now being treated in hospital for a serious brain injury. The girl suffered a broken skull and injury to her brain stem. Her mother died at the scene of the attack, which happened in April, reported the Shanghai Daily. Doctors told the family that Wang Yan would not emerge from her coma and said it would be pointless to spend money on her treatment. But her father and brother decided to sell everything they had to take her to Shanghai for treatment. The family said they were able to bring only 8,000 yuan (S$1,600) there as they were almost broke from paying for the father's cancer treatment. Wang Yan was admitted to Shanghai Blue Cross Brain Hospital in early June after her brother contacted the hospital. Time needed to recover See the original post here: Girl, 7, in coma after trying to help mum under attack … Continue reading →

A soldier returns from Iraq and has trouble remembering how to complete everyday tasks. He gets frustrated easily and has trouble sleeping. Doctors have difficulty alleviating his symptoms or even diagnosing the cause. Along Recovery, a documentary showing today at the Santikos Palladium as part of the San Antonio Film Festival, follows four members of the U.S. Army as they are treated for traumatic brain injury. The four men sustained injuries from improvised explosive devices while in Iraq and Afghanistan. The pressure from the blasts might leave no physical damage but cause symptoms that resemble a severe concussion, including memory loss and headaches. Traumatic brain injury is often paired with post-traumatic stress, which means additional mental health treatment for soldiers. I wanted to give the injury a human face, director Justin Springer said. The film was shot at Brooke Army Medical Center (now San Antonio Military Medical Center), a facility renowned for its treatment of TBI. Springer, who served in the Army from 2003 until 2008, gained intimate access to sessions with neurologists and psychiatrists. I knew what combat was like, but a soldier has no clue what's going on in a hospital, he said. For almost two years, Springer … Continue reading →

As a professional football player who takes jarring hits, San Clemente's Brian de la Puente is keenly aware that a traumatic brain injury could change his life. Such injuries already have done that to two of his friends. New Orleans Saints center Brian de la Puente, a 2003 graduate of San Clemente High School, will be at Hapa J's restaurant in his hometown to host a July 3 fundraiser for the Brain Trauma Foundation. PAUL RODRIGUEZ, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER ADVERTISEMENT So, de la Puente, the New Orleans Saints center who snapped the ball that quarterback Drew Brees threw to break the National Football League's single-season record for passing yards last year, is asking the public to help him raise money for the Brain Trauma Foundation. The organization aims to educate athletes, coaches, nurses, parents and health-care professionals on recognizing the symptoms of concussions so victims can get early and appropriate care. It also does research intended to broaden the treatments available. De la Puente and his wife, Makenzie, will host a July 3 fundraiser called "Defend Your Dome" using an image of New Orleans' Superdome as the logo from 4:30 p.m. to closing at Hapa J's restaurant, 2016 S. … Continue reading →

A seven-year-old girl is being treated at a Shanghai hospital for a serious brain injury she received while trying to shield her mother from a steel shovel wielded by a mentally ill man in a small village in Anhui Province in April. Wang Yan's mother died at the scene of the attack, while the girl suffered a broken skull and injury to her brain stem. She was rushed to a hospital, but Anhui doctors told the family she would not emerge from the coma she was in and that it would be pointless to spend money on her treatment. After the girl was at the hospital for more than a month, Wang Yan's father and brother sold out everything they had in order to take the girl for treatment in Shanghai. The family was able to bring only 8,000 yuan (US$1,270) to Shanghai since the family was almost broke from paying for her father's cancer treatment. Wang was admitted to Shanghai Blue Cross Brain Hospital in early June after her brother contacted the hospital. Dr Pan Renlong, director of Shanghai Blue Cross's neurosurgery department, told Shanghai Daily yesterday that Wang Yan is capable of surviving the injury, but she may … Continue reading →