Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

NEW YORK Researchers are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago. Severely injured patients who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands or use a spoon or hairbrush things that few of them could do at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state, 17 percent versus 32 percent. "This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and that's not been shown before," said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: "It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless." Many doctors began using amantadine for brain injuries years ago, but until now there's never been a big study to show that it works. The results of the federally funded study appear in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. A neurologist who wasn't involved in the research called it an important step. … Continue reading →

SACRAMENTO, Calif., March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --A brain injury can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere in the world. According to the Brain Injury Association of California,approximately 1.7 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury each year, and a brain injury occurs somewhere in the U.S. every 21 seconds. "Brain injuries are permanent and create devastating and life-altering conditions for those affected for the rest of their lives," states Elsa Quezada, Chair of the State Independent Living Council (SILC) and Executive Director of the Central Coast Center for Independent Living. "Considering the impact and cost of these types of injuries and that California has only seven traumatic brain injury centers, the role of independent living centers throughout the state is even more critical." Brain injuries result from various causes, including motor vehicle accidents, sports-related head injuries, strokes, aneurysms and the primary injury among seniors, slipping and falling. The cost to treat such injuries is confounding. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 2010 presentation, the "public health burden of traumatic brain injuries in the United States annually represents 52,000 deaths, 275,000 hospitalizations and 1,365,000 emergency room visits." "And the numbers are increasing with an estimated 20 percent of … Continue reading →

Editor's Choice Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience Article Date: 03 Mar 2012 - 14:00 PST email to a friend printer friendly opinions Current Article Ratings: 2.33 (12 votes) 3 (6 votes) Neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study said : Doctors have been using Amantadine for some years to treat brain injuries, but there has never been a comprehensive study to analyze the results. The new findings are an important step in the right direction, but many questions remain, including whether the drug will help patients that have less severe injuries, and also whether Amantadine will speed the recovery in the long term. Doctors have been forced to use a variety of medicines normally approved for other ailments in the hopes that they would help brain injury patients. With nearly two million patients suffering traumatic debilitating injuries, the need for a comprehensive treatment is evident and while three quarters are mild concussions that heal over time, more than 50,000 die each year from brain injuries and another 275,000 are hospitalized. Study co-leader, John Whyte, M.D., Ph.D, Director of Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute The problem to date is that doctors have been treating patients based on … Continue reading →

By Chelsea Conaboy, Globe Staff The pace of recovery for patients with severe brain injuries that leave them in a vegetative state or with limited consciousness may be quickened with the use of a drug commonly used to treat Parkinsons disease, a study published in the latest New England Journal of Medicine found. Patients who received the drug, amantadine, over four weeks improved more quickly and were more likely to gain the ability to understand and communicate with others within that time period than those who received a placebo. Doctors have long used amantadine and a variety of other psychoactive drugs in patients with severe traumatic brain injury, though they had little more than anecdotes to show that they worked. Researching their effectiveness has been difficult largely because the patients are hard to find, said Joseph Giacino, lead author of the study and director of rehabilitation neuropsychology at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. The vast majority of these patients never see rehabilitation, he said. They are sent from the trauma center to skilled nursing facilities, because coverage for rehabilitation is usually denied by health insurance plans. It is widely thought that little can be done to help them in a rehab setting, … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2012) A powerful new imaging technique called High Definition Fiber Tracking (HDFT) will allow doctors to clearly see for the first time neural connections broken by traumatic brain injury (TBI) and other neurological disorders, much like X-rays show a fractured bone, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in a report published online in the Journal of Neurosurgery. In the report, the researchers describe the case of a 32-year-old man who wasn't wearing a helmet when his all-terrain vehicle crashed. Initially, his CT scans showed bleeding and swelling on the right side of the brain, which controls left-sided body movement. A week later, while the man was still in a coma, a conventional MRI scan showed brain bruising and swelling in the same area. When he awoke three weeks later, the man couldn't move his left leg, arm and hand. "There are about 1.7 million cases of TBI in the country each year, and all too often conventional scans show no injury or show improvement over time even though the patient continues to struggle," said co-senior author and UPMC neurosurgeon David O. Okonkwo, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Neurological Surgery, Pitt School of Medicine. "Until … Continue reading →

RESEARCHERS are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago. Severely injured patients in the US, Denmark and Germany who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands or use a spoon or hairbrush - things that few of them could do at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state, 17 percent versus 32 per cent. "This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and that's not been shown before," said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: "It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless." A neurologist who wasn't involved in the research called it an important step. But many questions remain, including whether people less severely injured would benefit, and whether amantadine actually improves patients' long-term outcome or just speeds up their recovery. Each year, an estimated 1.7 million Americans … Continue reading →

Photo Researchers / Getty Images CT scan of a brain with internal bleeding Researchers are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago. Severely injured patients who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands or use a spoon or hairbrush things that few of them could do at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state, 17 percent versus 32 percent. This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and thats not been shown before, said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Bostons Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless. Many doctors began using amantadine for brain injuries years ago, but until now theres never been a big study to show that it works. The results of the federally funded study appear in Thursdays New England Journal of Medicine. MORE: Study: … Continue reading →

NEW YORK -- Researchers are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago. Severely injured patients who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands or use a spoon or hairbrush -- responses that few of them could handle at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state, 17 percent versus 32 percent. "This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and that's not been shown before," said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: "It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless." Many doctors began using amantadine for brain injuries years ago, but until now, there never has been a big study to show that it works. The results of the federally funded study appear in today's New England Journal of Medicine. A neurologist who wasn't involved in the research called it … Continue reading →

NEW YORK Researchers are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago. Don't miss these Health stories At just 15, Kyra Kline has already injured both her knees playing her favorite sport, basketball. A new study by researchers at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia finds an increase of 400 percent in the number of ACL tears treated at the hospital between 1999 and 2011. Severely injured patients who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands or use a spoon or hairbrush things that few of them could do at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state, 17 percent versus 32 percent. "This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and that's not been shown before," said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: "It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless." … Continue reading →

NEW YORK Researchers are reporting the first treatment to speed recovery from severe brain injuries caused by falls and car crashes: a cheap flu medicine whose side benefits were discovered by accident decades ago. Severely injured patients who were given amantadine got better faster than those who received a dummy medicine. After four weeks, more people in the flu-drug group could give reliable yes-and-no answers, follow commands or use a spoon or hairbrush things few of them could do at the start. Far fewer patients who got amantadine remained in a vegetative state 17 percent versus 32 percent. "This drug moved the needle in terms of speeding patient recovery, and that's not been shown before," said neuropsychologist Joseph Giacino of Boston's Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, co-leader of the study. He added: "It really does provide hope for a population that is viewed in many places as hopeless." Many doctors began using amantadine for brain injuries years ago, but until now there's never been a big study to show that it works. The results of the federally funded study appear in today's New England Journal of Medicine. A neurologist who wasn't involved in the research called it an important step. But many … Continue reading →