Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

A Port Coquitlam boy who suffered a mild traumatic brain injury when a steel volleyball pole fell on his head during preparations for PE class in 2011 has been awarded a $1.5-million settlement plus other costs to cover ongoing treatment, his future care and loss of employment earnings. Jose Marco Reyes, who was 10 and in Grade 6 at PoCos Minnekhada middle school when the accident occurred, suffers from headaches and other symptoms, according to court documents, and will see the funds put into trust until he is 19. School District 43 has been ordered to pay the sum as well as psychologist fees for the student and other charges, although it denied it was liable in the incident. According to a document filed in Supreme Court on Feb. 27, the settlement was based on a belief that it would be beneficial to the boy, among other things, and it means the Reyes family will not proceed with a lawsuit against the district; the trial, originally set for November 2014, has been cancelled. In the original lawsuit filed against SD43, the Reyes family claimed the district was negligent because it allowed Grade 7 students to remove the end posts for … Continue reading →

VIENNA, VA (PRWEB) March 03, 2015 Today the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) and Nutcase, the Portland-based maker of bike, skate, snow, water, and motorcycle helmets, announced a partnership agreement to help raise awareness about brain injury. The partnership kicks off with Nutcase donating $2 from each helmet sale through their website at http://www.nutcasehelmets.com to BIAA during the month of March in recognition of Brain Injury Awareness Month. Each year BIAA leads the nation in observing Brain Injury Awareness Month by conducting an awareness campaign during the month of March. The theme for the 2015 to 2017 campaign is: Not Alone and provides a platform for educating the general public about the incidence of brain injury and the needs of people with brain injuries and their families. In addition to the donation from helmet sales, Nutcase has produced a custom video from pro trials rider Ryan Leech for use on the BIAA website (http://www.biausa.org) to engage and attract young riders to the site. They have also set up a donation page at http://bit.ly/biadonation with proceeds going directly to BIAA. We all love our brains, said Susan H. Connors, President and CEO of BIAA. A Nutcase helmet is great a … Continue reading →

VIENNA,VA (PRWEB) March 02, 2015 Today the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) officially kicked off Brain Injury Awareness Month, a time to recognize and support the more than 5.3 million Americans who are living with TBI-related disabilities. Each year BIAA leads the nation in observing Brain Injury Awareness Month by conducting an awareness campaign during the month of March. The theme for the 2015 to 2017 campaign is: Not Alone. The Not Alone campaign provides a platform for educating the general public about the incidence of brain injury and the needs of people with brain injuries and their families. The campaign also lends itself to outreach within the brain injury community to de-stigmatize the injury, empower those who have survived, and promote the many types of support that are available. The American Association for Justice Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group and Nutcase Helmets are sponsors of the Not Alone campaign. Nutcase is also donating $2 from each helmet sold through its website (http://www.nutcasehelmets.com) during the month of March to BIAA. People with brain injuries want the same things we all want: to have a job, to have someone to love, to have a nice home, to have their independence, … Continue reading →

Morristown, NJ (PRWEB) February 28, 2015 Marchalso known as National Brain Injury Awareness Monthis a good time to remind ourselves and others that suspected head injuries, especially concussions, shouldnt be ignored, say Atlantic NeuroSurgical Specialists (ANS). Concussions are a form of traumatic brain injury (TBI), which account for 75% of TBIs. There are 1.6-3.8 million sports-related concussions per year. The word concussion may sound benign, but it is a brain injury. Many athletes suffer knee injuries, ankle injuries, shoulder injuries, and a variety of musculoskeletal injuries. Some of these injuries we can play through, others require rest, and a very small percentage requires surgery. Unlike musculoskeletal injuries, we cannot play while still suffering from the effects of a concussion. What is a concussion? A concussion is a blow to the head or body that causes shaking of the brain, causing damage to the tissue of the brain. Common examples include an athletes head hitting a stationary object, such as the ground in field sports (football, soccer, etc), boards/ice in hockey, and floor in basketball. A hard blow to the body that shakes the head can cause a concussion. The head doesn't have to be hit directly. What to look for? … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise New technology being introduced at NYU Langone Medical Center could help researchers advance blood biomarker capabilities that show changes in low concentrations of specific proteins present following a neurological injury. The single molecule array (Simoa) technology developed by Quanterix, and the fully automated HD-1 analyzer, offers unprecedented improvement in protein sensitivity over current technologies for the detection of blood-based biomarkers as much as 1,000 times more sensitive than conventional immunoassays. Specifically, it allows for more effective measurement of low concentration of proteins, such as tau a normal protein that is released from brain cells following a brain injury. Utilizing this technology, researchers hope to develop and validate a simple, more objective blood biomarker for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI). This diagnostic advancement provides us with a more precise ruler for measuring the effectiveness of diagnosis, treatment and progression of TBI, says Mony J. de Leon, EdD, director of the Center for Brain Health at NYU Langone, professor of psychiatry and an investigator with NYUs Steven and Alexandra Cohen Veterans Center. We know that increased tau proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid are a marker for TBI. Having more … Continue reading →

In the 1990s, neuroscientists identified a class of drugs that showed promise in the area of stroke. NMDA receptor antagonists could limit damage to the brain in animal models of stroke. But one problem complicated testing the drugs in a clinical setting: the side effects included disorientation and hallucinations. Now researchers have found a potential path around this obstacle. The results were published in Neuron. "We have found neuroprotective compounds that can limit damage to the brain during ischemia associated with stroke and other brain injuries, but have minimal side effects," says senior author Stephen Traynelis, PhD, professor of pharmacology at Emory University School of Medicine. "These compounds are most active when the pH is lowered by biochemical processes associated with injury of the surrounding tissue. This is a proof of concept study that shows this mechanism of action could potentially be exploited clinically in several conditions, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and subarachnoid hemorrhage." In a mouse model of ischemic stroke, a NMDA receptor antagonist called 93-31 can reduce the volume of damaged brain tissue by more than half, researchers found. At the same time, giving mice 93-31 does not seem to lead to the side effects seen … Continue reading →

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is ubiquitous and is increasingly being recognized in both the media and diverse clinical practices because of significant prevalence and morbidity. It is estimated that approximately 5.3 million people in the US have TBI-related disability.1 In the US, up to 1.7 million people sustain a TBI every year, of which 1.4 million are treated in emergency departments, yielding 275,000 hospitalizations and 52,000 fatalities, with an overall cost of $76.5 billion.2 Males are at increased risk for sustaining TBIs.3,4 More than 70% of the cases of TBI are mild (mTBI), which makes this subgroup of particular clinical interest. The cost of managing mTBI in the first year ($4600) is much less than that for managing moderate or severe TBI ($36,000), but because the vast majority of brain injury cases are mild, they are the main contributor to cumulative costs. Many clinicians are uncomfortable with the diagnosis and management of mTBIprobably because of the lack of validated and standardized treatments as well as a poor understanding of the natural history of TBI. Considerable overlap exists between TBI and disorders in cognition, behavior, and personality, which can provide even greater clinical challenges for health care professionals. This review on … Continue reading →

West Australian researchers have discovered a way to use peptides to protect stroke victims from brain damage, and say the breakthrough may reduce the risk of sustaining a serious disability from a stroke, especially for people living in remote Australia. Professor David Blacker, the medical director of the West Australian Neuroscience Research Institute, said it was an important development in stroke research. "In the rats that were given experimental peptides the volume of stroke damage was substantially smaller," he said. "If we can apply that to human models, the hope would be that critical bits of the brain will be less affected." The discovery is a big deal, especially for the 50,000 people who will have a stroke this year. "It's devastating and there have been surveys that reveal older people will fear surviving a stroke with a substantial disability; they will fear that more than actually dying," Professor Blacker said. Professor Blacker, who is also a neurologist at Perth's Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, said most researchers had given up trying to find such a treatment. "At these stroke conferences just recently, people have been standing and applauding the speakers ... because we're so used to trials that have had … Continue reading →

"Healing Our Soldiers," the cover story of the February issue of National Geographic, is a searching inquiry into blast-induced traumatic brain injurythe signature injury suffered by American veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. Known as shell shock in World War I, the devastating malady leaves victims with symptoms that range from sleep disorders to problems with memory and cognition. Many of the symptoms of blast-related brain trauma resemble those of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complicating diagnosis. Though a definitive means of diagnosing and treating these injuries remains elusive, medical researchers are pursuing various theories about how blast force, particularly that caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), results in brain damagein hopes of a breakthrough in understanding and, consequently, treatment. Story author Caroline Alexander has just finished a 20-city radio tour that addressed issues raised by the article. From her home in New England, she explains her interest in the subject, responds to questions raised by the radio audience, and shares advice with veterans who worry that they may be suffering from the syndrome. Tell us what inspired you to write about this subject in the first place. From as far back as 2005, I was reading about and researching … Continue reading →

File photo of a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of the brain. istockphoto A woman who had persistent headaches found there was a strange culprit for her pain: a Pilates class that caused her brain fluid to leak, according to a new case report. The brain fluid leak led to a persistent, worsening headache that was only alleviated when the 42-year-old British woman laid down, according to the report that was published in December in the Journal of Medical Case Reports. Though doctors never identified the exact location of the leak, the patient improved after a few weeks of bed rest and pain relievers. [The 16 Oddest Medical Cases] Cerebrospinal fluid is a clear liquid that flows between the brain and its outer covering, and between the spinal cord and its outer covering. Both of these structures' outer coverings are called the dura. This fluid cushions the brain and spinal cord and helps clear metabolic waste from the brain. However, sometimes holes can emerge in the dura, said Dr. Amber Luong, an otolaryngologist at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston. "The most common cause [of such leaks is] trauma, like a car accident," Luong told Live Science. Often, … Continue reading →