Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Newswise Charlottesville, Va.; and Rolling Meadows, Ill. Clinicians from the University of Utah report the death of a patient who received a mild brain injury from a ground-level fall while taking the new anticoagulant dabigatran etexilate for nonvalve related atrial fibrillation. The authors describe the events that led from a mild traumatic brain injury to the mans death, the largely irreversible dangers of massive hemorrhage from direct thrombin inhibitors such as dabigatran, and the few management options that can be used to counteract this uncontrollable bleeding. Their findings and suggestions can be found in the article Neurosurgical complications of direct thrombin inhibitorscatastrophic hemorrhage after mild traumatic brain injury in a patient receiving dabigatran. Case report, by Drs. Sarah Garber, Walavan Sivakumar, and Richard Schmidt, published online March 6 in the Journal of Neurosurgery (click here to see the case report). The take-away message is that bleeding complications associated with direct thrombin inhibitors, such as dabigatran, are largely irreversible. Physicians should suspect the strong potential for catastrophic hemorrhage in patients taking these medications so that available, albeit limited, management options can be put into effect without delay. Dabigatran etexilate (Pradaxa) is an oral anticoagulant (blood thinner) recently approved by the US … Continue reading →

By Stephanie Stahl PHILaDELPHIA (CBS) Traumatic brain injuries are often fatal or leave people with severe disabilities. Now a breakthrough treatment is being tested here in Philadelphia that could change everything. 3 On Your Side Health Reporter speaks with a patient who wasnt expect to survive. It was the worst kind of accident, a motorcycle crash. He wasnt wearing a helmet, and suffered a catastrophic brain injury. It was heart breaking. It was tough, said Anna Huffman, whos husband Roger was in the accident this past October. Doctors said he was close to death. If he survived he could be severely disabled. If it was paralyzed or death, Id take the death, said Roger. There were weeks of uncertainty, and desperation for the Pottsgrove couple whove been married 46 years. When I was in the hospital I had a love hate relationship with her. I love seeing her coming to the hospital to see me. Oh God did I hate to see her leave, said Roger. There are no more painful goodbyes. 65-year-old Roger beat the odds and is fine now, except for being a little more emotional than usual. His remarkable recovery might be because of a new experimental … Continue reading →

By Drew Brooks Staff writer The explosion and the months that followed are still a blur to Sgt. Maj. Richard Steele, but the effects of the blast on his brain still linger. The Special Forces soldier was in a vehicle hit by insurgents in Timagara, Pakistan, on Feb. 3, 2010. The attack left Steele with traumatic brain injury. But like many other soldiers with similar injuries, he hid the symptoms so he could return to duty sooner, despite the short-term memory loss, headaches and dizziness. Steele shared his story at Womack Army Medical Center on Tuesday, speaking at a program to raise awareness of traumatic brain injuries within the military. March is Brain Injury Awareness Month in the Army. Maj. Gen. Richard Stone, the Army's deputy surgeon general, and Brig. Gen. Christian Juneau, a Fort Bragg deputy commanding general, also spoke. Stone said he came to the "center of Army combat power" to spread the message that traumatic brain injuries are serious. Too often, he said, soldiers try to hide the signs of brain injuries to get back to work - a dangerous practice that only puts them at greater risk. Stone said the number of such injuries reported by … Continue reading →

A traumatic brain injury can happen at anytime, anywhere, and to anyone. The Mind Matters 2012 Brain Injury Conference on March 7-8, 2012, at the Radisson Hotel in Bismarck, aims to educate medical and other treatment professionals, veterans, brain injury survivors and their family members, and others about the prevalence and effects of brain injury and the recovery process. An entire day will be dedicated to traumatic brain injury issues facing men and woman serving in the armed forces. A brain injury can have a dramatic impact on a persons life, as well as the lives of family and friends, said Richard Ott, executive director of Head Injury Association of North Dakota. This conference offers dialogue from a variety of perspectives to better understand brain injuries and their long-lasting effects. The morning keynote presentation on March 7 features Harvey Jacobs, Ph.D., a psychologist and behavior analyst, who will provide an in-depth look at behavioral changes caused by traumatic brain injuries. Afternoon presentations include recognizing the causes, consequences, and challenges traumatic brain injuries have on individuals, families and communities, long-term rehabilitation, pain control, transition planning for community living, and more. There will also be a panel discussion featuring three people living … Continue reading →

PHILADELPHIA Aggressive treatment for severe traumatic brain injuries costs more than routine care, yet yields significantly better outcomes, improved quality of life, and lower long term care costs, according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. For example, in 20 year old traumatic brain injury survivor, aggressive care leads to significantly improved outcomes and costs nearly $100,000 less compared to routine care. Across age groups, the costs of aggressive care were outweighed by the beneficial outcomes and long-term cost savings. The study appears online in the Journal of Neurosurgery. With 1.5 million traumatic brain injuries a year, leading to 200,000 hospitalizations and over 52,000 deaths, the economic costs (direct medical care and loss of productivity) of TBI are estimated to equal $60 billion. This is the first study to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of intensive TBI care. "This study clearly shows that aggressive care, for both young and older patients who suffer a severe traumatic brain injury, provides patients the best chance at surviving and recovering, and also reduces lifetime costs associated of TBI treatment," said Robert Whitmore, MD, Neurosurgery resident and the study's lead author. Despite effective guidelines from the … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Gillian Shasby gshasby@thejns.org 434-924-5555 Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group Charlottesville, VA (March 6, 2012). Clinicians from the University of Utah report the death of a patient who received a mild brain injury from a ground-level fall while taking the new anticoagulant dabigatran etexilate for nonvalve related atrial fibrillation. The authors describe the events that led from a mild traumatic brain injury to the man's death, the largely irreversible dangers of massive hemorrhage from direct thrombin inhibitors such as dabigatran, and the few management options that can be used to counteract this "uncontrollable" bleeding. Their findings and suggestions can be found in the article "Neurosurgical complications of direct thrombin inhibitorscatastrophic hemorrhage after mild traumatic brain injury in a patient receiving dabigatran. Case report," by Drs. Sarah Garber, Walavan Sivakumar, and Richard Schmidt, published online March 6 in the Journal of Neurosurgery. The take-away message is that bleeding complications associated with direct thrombin inhibitors, such as dabigatran, are largely irreversible. Physicians should suspect the strong potential for catastrophic hemorrhage in patients taking these medications so that available, albeit limited, management options can be put into effect without delay. Dabigatran etexilate (Pradaxa) … Continue reading →

EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE March 6, 2012, 10:00AM ET Expensive yet Cost-Effective: Aggressive Traumatic Brain Injury Care Improves Outcomes, Reduces Long-Term Costs, Penn Study Shows Regardless of Age, Younger and Older Severe TBI Patients Benefit from Aggressive Care Newswise PHILADELPHIA Aggressive treatment for severe traumatic brain injuries costs more than routine care, yet yields significantly better outcomes, improved quality of life, and lower long term care costs, according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. For example, in 20 year old traumatic brain injury survivor, aggressive care leads to significantly improved outcomes and costs nearly $100,000 less compared to routine care. Across age groups, the costs of aggressive care were outweighed by the beneficial outcomes and long-term cost savings. The study appears online in the Journal of Neurosurgery. With 1.5 million traumatic brain injuries a year, leading to 200,000 hospitalizations and over 52,000 deaths, the economic costs (direct medical care and loss of productivity) of TBI are estimated to equal $60 billion. This is the first study to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of intensive TBI care. "This study clearly shows that aggressive care, for both young and older patients who suffer a … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Kim Menard kim.menard@uphs.upenn.edu 215-662-6183 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine PHILADELPHIA Aggressive treatment for severe traumatic brain injuries costs more than routine care, yet yields significantly better outcomes, improved quality of life, and lower long term care costs, according to a new study by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. For example, in 20 year old traumatic brain injury survivor, aggressive care leads to significantly improved outcomes and costs nearly $100,000 less compared to routine care. Across age groups, the costs of aggressive care were outweighed by the beneficial outcomes and long-term cost savings. The study appears online in the Journal of Neurosurgery. With 1.5 million traumatic brain injuries a year, leading to 200,000 hospitalizations and over 52,000 deaths, the economic costs (direct medical care and loss of productivity) of TBI are estimated to equal $60 billion. This is the first study to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of intensive TBI care. "This study clearly shows that aggressive care, for both young and older patients who suffer a severe traumatic brain injury, provides patients the best chance at surviving and recovering, and also reduces lifetime … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Gillian Shasby gshasby@thejns.org 434-924-5555 Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group Charlottesville, VA (March 6, 2012). Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that aggressive treatment of severe traumatic brain injury, which includes invasive monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) and decompressive craniectomy, produces better patient outcomes than less aggressive measures and is cost-effective in patients no matter their ageeven in patients 80 years of age. These important findings can be found in the article "Is aggressive treatment of traumatic brain injury cost-effective? Clinical article," by Robert Whitmore and colleagues, published online March 6 in the Journal of Neurosurgery. The authors set out to determine whether aggressive treatment of severe traumatic brain injury is cost-effective compared to less aggressive therapeutic approaches. "Severe traumatic brain injury" in this study is defined by a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or less in which the motor component is 5 or less. These researchers created a decisionanalysis model with which they could compare outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of three treatment strategies: 1) comfort care consisting of one day in the intensive care unit followed by continued care in … Continue reading →

MONDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) -- Some children who suffer a concussion will display continued difficulties, such as attention and memory problems, for many months, a new study finds. Concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injury, are common in childhood, with more than 500,000 children and teens a year needing hospital treatment for these injuries, the researchers note. "The results of the study suggest that the majority of kids who sustain mild traumatic brain injuries actually do quite well and don't have to have persistent symptoms after their injury," said lead researcher Keith Owen Yeates, director of Behavioral Health Services at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "But, there is a small, but significant proportion of kids that do go on to have persistent symptoms after their injury, lasting as long as three to 12 months," he added. The extent and duration of the symptoms appear to be related to the severity of the injury, and can affect quality of life and school performance, he said. Kids shouldn't go back to play until their symptoms are gone, and the medical profession must fine-tune guidelines regarding permissible post-concussion activity, Yeates said. The report was published in the March 5 online … Continue reading →