Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. - Daniella Rellas brother was nearly killed by a drunk driver and she said he has made amazing progress because of treatment pioneered by neuroscientist Philip DeFina. But Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center fired the Chester resident last November and he has been removed from consideration for a seat on the N.J. Commission for Brain Injury Research. Joseph Domalewski said he feels absolutely blessed that DeFina became involved in the treatment of his son after the Wayne youth was struck by a baseball and fell into a coma. But for unclear reasons, DeFina was discharged in 2005 as a consultant by the Matheny School and Hospital in Peapack-Gladstone. DeFinas work has taken on a particularly critical importance with the return of many veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury suffered during fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. His research has been considered so vital that he and his associates received a $6.4 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Defense in September 2009. DeFina formed his International Brain Research Foundation in 2005 and recently relocated the office to Flanders. He has been involved in brain research since the late 1980s and has developed a controversial protocol for treatment of … Continue reading →

Posted by Steven GurstenMarch 27, 2012 3:15 PM As lawyers for injury victims, we get an up-close look at how the lives of traumatic brain injury survivors are dramatically impacted by their injuries. As you might know, March is Brain Injury Awareness month. In order to raise money bring more awareness to the issues related to TBI, the lawyers at Michigan Auto Law are donating $1 to the Michigan Brain Injury Association for every Like the firm's page receives on Facebook. Please help us reach our goal of $10,000 by liking our Facebook page. In addition to raising money, we've also been pretty busy publishing information on brain injuries at our blog: And it's not too late to help spread the word! Here's what you can do: Survivors of traumatic brain injuries need our support. Treatment, therapy, rehabilitation, and care for loved ones that have survived a brain injury can pile up quickly. But spreading important information about brain injuries and raising money for organizations that are doing good work are some easy ways we can all help families dealing with these difficult issues. Read the original here: Brain Injury Awareness Month Campaign … Continue reading →

Memory Faith McAdams wishes people would see her as a person first, then as a traumatic brain injury survivor. Too often, it's the other wayaround. "You always want to be one of the 'normies,' " the 43-year-old Ventura woman said, referring to those without braininjury. When asked about the irony of her name, Memory said it's just a coincidence, that it was just one of those 1960snames. The slang like "normies," the slights, the triumphs and the struggles were all part of the third annual Ventura County Brain Injury Center Conference held Saturday at the Ventura County Office of Education inCamarillo. The conference had a keynote speaker and workshops on three simultaneous tracks for brain injury survivors, caregivers and professionals in the field seeking to get furthercredentials. "The thrust of this conference is real practical knowledge," explained Joan Moore, executive director of the Brain Injury Center of Ventura County in Camarillo. "Once a person sustains a brain injury ... they get the acute and subacute rehabilitation, but when they come home, the services stop but they haven't gottenanybetter." During the workshop, roughly 150 attendees learned practical tips for survivors, caregivers and health professionals. Subjects included everything from communication to nutrition … Continue reading →

09:35 GMT, March 23, 2012 WASHINGTON | The U.S. Defense Department exhibited its latest technology and practices in the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injuries at the 11th annual Brain Injury Awareness Day Fair here Mar. 21. The event at the House of Representatives Rayburn Building, which was jam-packed with information seekers, was sponsored by the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force in support of Traumatic Brain Injury Month. The fair featured nearly 60 federal agency and private-sector exhibitors, including the military services. Defense agencies at the fair included the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, and its components, the National Intrepid Center of Excellence and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. Public awareness of traumatic brain injury overall has dramatically increased, said Joshua Stueve, the Intrepid Centers public affairs officer, who hosted his organizations exhibit. The big turnout from congressional and military staffers and the public was evidence of that awareness, he added. Numerous DOD products proved popular with visitors. One such item was the Deployment Mental Health Assessments Pocket Guide, a compact, yet comprehensive, booklet that outlines how to assess service members for TBI, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, suicidal tendencies and other … Continue reading →

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has been identified as the soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: Dr. Charles Raison, CNNhealth's mental health expert, is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He has not personally examined the suspect in the Afghanistan mass shootings, Robert Bales, but has used news accounts as the basis for his views. (CNN) -- Q: Sgt. Robert Bales has been accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians. He served three tours in Iraq before this and his lawyer says he may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury. What's the link between violence and those disorders? A: Psychiatrists understand some types of aberrant behavior pretty well and can do things to help resolve it. But, unfortunately, in other instances -- and often the most interesting ones -- we can only mumble generalities that require no special expertise and that offer no hope for a diagnosis or treatment. Take the case of U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of massacring 16 Afghan men, women and children while they slept unprotected in their village. The first thing a psychiatrist would want to know is … Continue reading →

Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has been identified as the soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Editor's note: Dr. Charles Raison, CNNhealth's mental health expert, is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He has not personally examined the suspect in the Afghanistan mass shootings, Robert Bales, but has used news accounts as the basis for his views. (CNN) -- Q: Sgt. Robert Bales has been accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians. He served three tours in Iraq before this and his lawyer says he may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury. What's the link between violence and those disorders? A: Psychiatrists understand some types of aberrant behavior pretty well and can do things to help resolve it. But, unfortunately, in other instances -- and often the most interesting ones -- we can only mumble generalities that require no special expertise and that offer no hope for a diagnosis or treatment. Take the case of U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Bales, accused of massacring 16 Afghan men, women and children while they slept unprotected in their village. The first thing a psychiatrist would want to know is … Continue reading →

The Defense and Veterans Affairs departments are using their partnered programs to identify and treat traumatic brain injury, representatives of both departments said Monday during a roundtable discussion on new advances in the field. Kathy Helmick, deputy director for traumatic brain injury, or TBI, at the Defense Centers of Excellence, emphasized the importance of diagnosing brain trauma early, whether its the invisible injury such as a concussion, or a more severe form of TBI. The DoD goes hand-in-hand with the military services with early detection, understanding the barriers, and having the collaborators and partners in advancing the science, Helmick said. We want to eliminate undetected mild brain injury, and we do that with aggressive screening programs, she said. Helmick said many academic institutions and agencies collaborate with VA and DoD on TBI to further the methods by which service members with TBI are treated. The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., and the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta are two such agencies. Helmick pointed out that standardized care for those with TBI is crucial. The more we standardize care, those tools help where were vulnerable (with) repeat concussions, she said. We know very little from the civilian world … Continue reading →

Newswise Rehabilitation experts from NYU Langone Medical Center participated in several events in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) to mark March as Brain Injury Awareness Month. A world-leader in rehabilitation medicine and research, NYU Langone clinicians and researchers committed to reducing the incidence of injury and improving the lives of those living with brain injuries. As part of this awareness month they participated in a series of local and national events, including: March 21 Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill. Rusk research and clinical experts joined members of BIAA, politicians, other medical experts and patient advocates in Washington, DC to discuss the state of brain injury in the U.S., new research and advances in care and rehabilitation. March 15-April 14 Whakd and then everything was different. Artist Eliette Markhbein, in collaboration with the Brain Injury Association of America and the Society for the Arts in Healthcare, will share her unique portraits of well-known survivors of TBI in an exhibit that kicks off a national tour at the NYU Langone Medical Centers MSB Gallery at 550 First Avenue in New York City. Learn more at http://www.biausa.org/tbi-portrait-project.htm March 28 Head Injuries and Concussion in Sports: What You … Continue reading →

By Shar Adams Epoch Times Staff Created: March 22, 2012 Last Updated: March 22, 2012 Dr. Bart Winter, Fort Sill Traumatic Brain Injury clinic physician, examines a "H.E.A.D.S. UP Warrior" banner that lists the signs of a concussion with Dr. Jason Albano, TBI neuropsychologist, and Public Health Service Lt. Dennis Ward, TBI program director. Staff members at the clinic work with soldiers wounded by improvised explosive device blasts or other head trauma in combat. (Ben Sherman, Fort Sill) Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has long been underreported and misunderstood, but its increasing prevalence in the United States, particularly in the military, is engendering calls for more focus on it. Approximately 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury in the United States annually reports the Centers of Disease Control Prevention (CDC), and traumatic brain injury now accounts for over three-quarters of all injury related deaths. Within U.S defense forces, mild traumatic brain injury has become the signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, largely due to the improvised explosive device (IED). With improvements in protective armor and better medical care, soldiers are returning from close proximity IED explosions, but with impacts to the brain not yet clearly understood, according to … Continue reading →

Public release date: 22-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Anne DeLotto Baier abaier@health.usf.edu 813-974-3303 University of South Florida (USF Health) Tampa, FL (March 22, 2012) -- Immediate skull reconstruction following trauma that penetrates or creates an indentation in the skull can aggravate brain damage inflicted by the initial injury, a study by a University of South Florida research team reports. Using a rat model for moderate and severe traumatic brain injury, the researchers also showed that a delay of just two days in the surgical repair of skull defects resulted in significantly less brain swelling and damage. The study was published March 16, 2012 in the online journal PloS ONE. While further investigation is needed, the findings have implications for the acute treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), considered the signature wound of soldiers who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the study's principal investigator Cesar Borlongan, PhD, professor and vice chair of research at the USF Health Department of Neurosurgery and Brain Repair "A double-edged sword," is how Borlongan describes the inflammation and subsequent swelling of brain tissue that occurs immediately following TBI. When the brain is initially penetrated -- by a bullet, shrapnel, other debris, … Continue reading →