Concussions are a growth industry for hospital emergency rooms in the U.S., according to a new report. Between 2006 and 2010, the total number of visits to emergency departments in a nationwide sample of hospitals grew by 3.6%. During that same period, the number of visits by patients seeking treatment for a traumatic brain injury grew by 29.1%, researchers report in Wednesdays edition of the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The eight-fold increase in TBI patients could be due to a number of factors, the researchers wrote. There may be an actual increase in the number of head injuries suffered by patients, or the figures may be a sign that Americans are taking these injuries more seriously and getting treatment for things they would have blown off in the past. Its certainly possible that both factors are at play, they wrote. The researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School, used data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample to assess visits to ERs. The sample includes information from more than 950 hospitals across the country. The researchers zeroed in on patient visits for concussions, skull fractures, cerebral lacerations and contusions, various types of hemorrhages, … Continue reading →

A blood clot like the one Hillary Clinton suffered in December 2012 may occur for many people throughout life, a Washington neurologist said Tuesday, and patients can have a fabulous recovery without any lingering effect. Responding to comments by Republican strategist Karl Rove, whom the New York Post quoted as suggesting the clot caused brain damage, neurologist Alexander Dromerick said there was no outward sign the former secretary of state had any permanent injury from her 2012 health problems. I dont see a hint that theres anything of a brain injury, Dromerick, the vice president of research at Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital, said during an interview. He was not involved in her treatment. (Also on POLITICO: Rove vs. Clinton) Dromerick said the kind of blood clot Clinton sustained can commonly be caused by a concussion or dehydration both of which were reported at the time. Based on what her doctors described, Dromerick said Clintons clot wasnt technically in the brain itself but in a vein draining blood from her brain. Although such an occurrence can cause a stroke, there was no public evidence of that in her case, he said. And her official work and public appearances since then all … Continue reading →

Published: Tuesday, May 13, 2014, 4:30p.m. Updated 20 hours ago Hospitals reported about 30 percent more emergency visits for traumatic brain injuries over four years as Americans learn more about the often-dangerous injuries, a UPMC researcher said on Tuesday. Now that we know more about traumatic brain injury, people are being appropriately more conservative and seeking treatment, said Dr. Jennifer R. Marin, an emergency medicine physician at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in Lawrenceville. The study found about 2.5 million emergency visits nationwide for the brain injuries in 2010, an increase of 29 percent in the visit rate from 2006. Total emergency department visits climbed 3.6 percent in the same period, according to their analysis, which cites data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample database. The majority of the increase occurred in visits coded as concussions and other unspecified head injuries. The findings will be published in a research letter Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Marin said growing public attention to brain injuries in the past decade led researchers to explore whether hospitals are logging more cases. She said 2010 marked the most recent data available, which do not examine localized trends in individual states … Continue reading →

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP/Pablo... Karl Rove's suggestion that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be suffering lingering effects from a December 2012 brain injury has been slammed by Clinton's camp and other Democrats -- as well as many in the media -- but it's no different from concerns raised about veterans who suffered similar injuries in Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, medical research by the military and others over the past decade has led to a much better understanding of how even moderate brain trauma can have lingering effects, including post-traumatic stress, causing military officials to institute mandatory screenings for troops involved in such incidents. The New York Post on Monday reported that Rove stunned a conference audience on Thursday when he suggested that -- as the paper reported -- Clinton "may have brain damage." Thirty days in the hospital? And when she reappears, shes wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know whats up with that, Rove was quoted as saying. Actually, Clinton, 66, was hospitalized for three days for a potentially dangerous blood clot in her head after suffering a … Continue reading →