Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Dr. Paul Baek, For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin Published 1:32 p.m. CT March 6, 2017 | Updated 17 hours ago Dr. Paul Baek(Photo: Provided) Question: How big a deal is Brain Injury Awareness Month? Answer: Its a big deal, because were not talking about it frequently enough. Brain injury is often referred to as a silent epidemic because few people know about it, despite the eye-opening number of people injured each year. RELATED:Ask A Doctor: Facts about multiple sclerosis SUBSCRIBE:Follow us today on YouTube More than 3.5 million people experience a brain injury each year, according to the Brain Injury Association of America. An estimated 12 million Americans live with the impact of such an injury. A brain injury can occur anytime our head is subjected to a strong bump, blow, jolt or penetrating injury that interrupts the normal function of the brain. Some brain injuries are traumatic, such as a head injury sustained during a car crash. Some are the result ofnon-traumatic causes like drowning, stroke or infection. Others are less severe, but may still cause disturbances in normal brain function, as experienced during a concussion. Creating awareness of brain injuries and how to prevent them is critical. Given that … Continue reading →

David Poulsen, PhD, professor of translational neuroscience in the Department of Neurosurgery, has received $966,000 in private funding to further study a novel neuroprotective agent for moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Poulsens previous work on developing therapies to treat injuries to the central nervous system strongly suggest that phenoxybenzamine is highly neuroprotective when given within eight hours after a severe TBI. Phenoxybenzamine is an FDA-approved treatment for humans and animals to reduce hypertension and excessive sweating associated with adrenal tumors, but Poulsen says it may also may exert a neuroprotective effect by reducing neuroinflammation after TBI. Poulsens new study titled Preclinical Therapeutic Window Study of Phenoxybenzamine in Moderate-Severely Injured TBI Rats encompasses several goals: This will define how long after injury phenoxybenzamine can be given and still produce a beneficial effect, Poulsen says. This will provide us with a comprehensive picture of the neuropathology that occurs in the brain following TBI and help us to understand what molecular mechanisms are involved in phenoxybenzamine-mediated neuroprotection, Poulsen says. TBI is a national health concern that affects more than 1.7 million individuals each year in the United States. Of further concern is the lack of effective treatments to reduce the primary or secondary … Continue reading →

How did a Massachusetts woman end up with two electrodes implanted into her brain? Why is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency developing a controversial, cutting-edge brain chip technology that could one day treat everything from major depressive disorder to hand cramps? How did we get to deep brain stimulation and where do we go from here? In 1848, a rail foreman named Phineas Gage was clearing a railroad bend in Vermont when a blast hole exploded, sending the tamping iron he had been using to pack explosives through his left cheek, his brains left frontal lobe and finally out the top of his skull before landing 25 yards away, stuck upright in the dirt. Despite his pulverized brain mass, Gage went on to make a full recovery, with the exception of a blinded left eye. It was, by all accounts, miraculous. But while Gage could walk and talk, those who knew him found that after the accident he seemed, well, different. A local physician who treated him the day of the accident observed that the equilibrium ... between his intellectual faculties and his animal propensities seems to have been destroyed. His friends put it more simply: Gage, they said, … Continue reading →

March 1 marks the first day of National Brain Injury Awareness Month and the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts invites the public to join the organization in increasing its support and impact. There are many ways that the community can join us this month to help us support brain injury survivors and raise awareness, BIA-MA Executive Director Nicole Godaire said in a news release. First and foremost, you can call your state representative and ask them to support Cognitive-Rehabilitation. Joint House and Senate bills, An Act Relative to Improving Lives by Insuring Access to Brain Injury Treatment, were filed. The bills will ensure that commercial health insurance plans include cognitive rehabilitation services for individuals with brain injury (trauma, stroke, tumor, etc.). More information on legislative advocacy can be found at biama.org/advocacy. The association will support the Brain Injury Association of America on March 22, Brain Injury Awareness Day on Capitol Hill. It will be a similar networking event to BIA-MAs Advocacy Day, held in February at the Massachusetts State House, with several brain injury survivors and local representatives in attendance. Especially during Brain Injury Awareness Month, we invite the community to become members of our organization, which offers several educational … Continue reading →

Head Injuries and Your Brain Although the brain is protected by tough bone (skull) and padding (membranes), it can still be injured. Head injuries that are severe enough to affect brain function are termed traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Damage can range from mild to severe as the brain can affect everything you do. Traumatic brain injuries result from either a blow to the head that does not penetrate the skull (closed head injury) or from an object penetrating through the skull into brain tissues (open brain injury). However, there are variations of these general terms in the medical literature so people may not agree on all points (For example, is a depression of the bony skull toward the brain an open or closed brain injury?). Consult your doctor about the type of head injury. A concussion is considered a milder form of a traumatic brain injury (closed brain injury) by most clinicians. In most people, recovery from a mild concussion is quick. However, if the person suffers a severe concussion, the person may be unconscious for a long time period. Some people develop comas or even die from this type of closed head injury. The slide illustrates how a blow … Continue reading →

Tool helps evaluate likely outcomes for elderly patients with ... Science Daily Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death for people age 45 and younger in the United States, but, as people live longer, this type of injury is ... and more » Read the original here: Tool helps evaluate likely outcomes for elderly patients with ... - Science Daily … Continue reading →

Atletico Madrid striker in a stable condition in hospital after team-mates Gabi and Sime Vrsaljko praised by doctor for 'perfect' response FERNANDO TORRESwas rushed to hospital after suffering a horror head injury in Atletico Madrids Liga draw with Deportivo La Coruna. The former Liverpool and Chelseaace was knocked out cold following a sickening clash of heads with Deportivos Alejandro Bergantinos, before later regaining consciousness. EPA EPA Torres head bounced off the turf in horrifying fashion before anxiousteam-mates rushed to his aid. Team-matesGabi and Sime Vrsaljko had to reach inside theAtletico strikers mouth to stophim swallowing his tongue, with Depors club doctor Carlos Larino later praising the duos perfect reaction. After several minutes of treatment Torres, 32, wastaken off on a stretcher wearing a neck brace. Getty Images Reuters Reuters Reuters He was rushed to hospital by ambulance, with what the club initiallydescribed in a Tweet as a brain trauma injury. But after undergoing cranial and cervical CT scans, the playerwas given the all-clear but told to observe protocol by spending the night in hospital. Torres was later able to Tweet: Many thanks to all concerned by me and for your messages of encouragement.It was just a scare. I hope to … Continue reading →

March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. Despite the fact traumatic brain injuries (TBI) occur more frequently than do breast cancer diagnoses, HIV/AIDS infections, multiple sclerosis cases, and spinal cord injuries combined, Im willing to bet most people did not know this. In truth, everyone should know about brain injury because it can strike anyone, anywhere at any time. All it takes is an accidental blow to the head or unexpected medical diagnosis. If this happens, as it did to my family, you will need to become aware quickly. Nineteen years ago my oldest son, then 9 years old, fought and beat brain cancer with the help of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, the same treatments that saved his life also damaged his brain. The fact my sons post-treatment TBI has had a far greater effect on his life than cancer may sound incredible so some, but it is true. Cancer can be defeated, but a brain injury lingers. To be clear, the manner in which my son acquired his brain injury is unusual. The vast majority of TBI result from falls, motor vehicle accidents, assaults, and accidental collisions. This raises another important point: Nobody plans to get a brain … Continue reading →

by: Mark Winne Updated: Mar 1, 2017 - 8:27 PM ATLANTA - Channel 2 Action News has uncovered another hole in the juvenile justice system. A teenager now charged as an adult in a kidnapping and rape case, has been arrested and released more than a half-dozen times. This is the fourth juvenile case like this that Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne has uncovered in recent months. You've got nowhere to put these kids, juvenile court defense lawyer Adeline Alexander said. Alexander representsKenyatta Cosby. Cosby, now 16, suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car wreck when he was about 11. After a series of run-ins with the juvenile justice system, he shouldve been in a state-run secure mental health facility for juveniles. TRENDING STORIES: But for years Georgia has not had one. I do feel that the system let him down, Cosbys aunt Tasha Rogers told Winne. If he had been charged with the same kinds of things in the adult system, would he have been in a secure mental health facility locked up? Winne asked Alexander. Absolutely. Absolutely, Alexander said. He would've been protected and the community would've been protected from him. Cosby has now been charged … Continue reading →

Atletico Madrid striker in a stable condition in hospital after team-mates Gabi and Sime Vrsaljko praised by doctor for 'perfect' response FERNANDO TORRESwas rushed to hospital after suffering a horror head injury in Atletico Madrids Liga draw with Deportivo La Coruna. The former Liverpool and Chelseaace was knocked out cold following a sickening clash of heads with Deportivos Alejandro Bergantinos, before later regaining consciousness. EPA EPA Torres head bounced off the turf in horrifying fashion before anxiousteam-mates rushed to his aid. Team-matesGabi and Sime Vrsaljko had to reach inside theAtletico strikers mouth to stophim swallowing his tongue, with Depors club doctor Carlos Larino later praising the duos perfect reaction. After several minutes of treatment Torres, 32, wastaken off on a stretcher wearing a neck brace. Getty Images Reuters Reuters Reuters He was rushed to hospital by ambulance, with what the club initiallydescribed in a Tweet as a brain trauma injury. But after undergoing cranial and cervical CT scans, the playerwas given the all-clear but told to observe protocol by spending the night in hospital. Torres was later able to Tweet: Many thanks to all concerned by me and for your messages of encouragement.It was just a scare. I hope to … Continue reading →