Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Newswise Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) found that only 1 in 5 veterans reported receiving brain injury education while serving in the military. The researchers, whose findings were published this week in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, believe a lack of accurate knowledge could lead to misdiagnosis or misinterpretation due to the many symptoms that can overlap among brain injury and other conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and chronic pain. The ultimate risk in misinterpretation is that the patient may be treated in a different direction from where they need to go, said Cady Block, primary investigator of the study and doctoral student with the UAB Department of Psychology. In the case of a veteran who sustains a brain injury, for example, they may be deemed to be disabled instead of integrating back into their community and their job. That direction of treatment may not look at encouraging ways to give them their life back. The study looked at 100 veterans and 50 of their friends or family. It found that both groups were able to correctly identify symptoms associated with mild brain injury. However, both groups endorsed numerous symptoms that are not … Continue reading →

Newswise Considerable opportunity exists to improve interventions and outcomes of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older adults, according to three studies published in the recent online issue of NeuroRehabilitation by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. An Exploration of Clinical Dementia Phenotypes Among Individuals With and Without Traumatic Brain Injury Some evidence suggests that a history of TBI is associated with an increased risk of dementia later in life, but the clinical features of dementia associated with TBI have not been well investigated. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine as well as other institutions analyzed data from elderly individuals with dementia with and without a history of TBI to characterize the clinical profiles of patients with post-TBI dementia. The results of the study indicate that compared to older adults with dementia with no history of TBI, those with a history of TBI had higher fluency and verbal memory scores and later onset of decline. However, their general health was worse, they were more likely to have received medical attention for depression, and were more likely to have a gait disorder, falls, and motor slowness. These findings suggest that dementia among individuals with a history of … Continue reading →

Public release date: 28-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Mount Sinai Press Office NewsMedia@mssm.edu 212-241-9200 The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine Considerable opportunity exists to improve interventions and outcomes of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older adults, according to three studies published in the recent online issue of NeuroRehabilitation by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. An Exploration of Clinical Dementia Phenotypes Among Individuals With and Without Traumatic Brain Injury Some evidence suggests that a history of TBI is associated with an increased risk of dementia later in life, but the clinical features of dementia associated with TBI have not been well investigated. Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine as well as other institutions analyzed data from elderly individuals with dementia with and without a history of TBI to characterize the clinical profiles of patients with post-TBI dementia. The results of the study indicate that compared to older adults with dementia with no history of TBI, those with a history of TBI had higher fluency and verbal memory scores and later onset of decline. However, their general health was worse, they were more likely to have received medical attention … Continue reading →

Maybe you didnt realize it, but this monthMarchhas been National Brain Injury Awareness Month. During these 31 days, an estimated 140,000 people in the U.S. will have sustained some degree of traumatic brain injury (TBI), ranging from mild concussions to coma or death. Taken together, TBI is among the leading cause of disability and death in people who are otherwise typically the youngest and healthiest Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Which makes TBIs nickname, The Silent Epidemic, an apt one. But make no mistake, the costs of TBI are huge: Added together, medical bills, chronic or lifelong disability, and indirect costs to society attributable to TBI are estimated at over $75 billion per year. Concussions: This Is Your Brain on Sports The good newsif you want to call it thatis that over the past decade, TBI has received increasing attention. Why? Unfortunately, its because of injuries sustained by athletes in various contact sports, including football, boxing, and hockey, as well as combat-related injuries to our brave military personnel. These are important causes of TBI, but they mask a much bigger cause: Car accidents and falls continue to make up over half of these injuries, … Continue reading →

Newswise SAN DIEGO A researcher from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health Department of Neurology will receive $130,000 to conduct further research on epilepsy following traumatic brain injury through the Susan S. Spencer Clinical Research Training Fellowship funded by the American Brain Foundation, the American Epilepsy Society and the Epilepsy Foundation. The fellowship was presented in San Diego during the American Academy of Neurologys 65th Annual Meeting, the worlds largest meeting of neurologists. Robert Kotloski, MD, PhD, a neurophysiology fellow in epilepsy, was awarded the fellowship for work investigating the changes in brain activity during the time period between a brain injury and appearance of seizures. His ultimate goal is to better understand seizures following traumatic brain injury and work to develop new treatments. The two-year award will consist of an annual salary of $55,000, plus $10,000 per year in educational expenses. The award recognizes the importance of epilepsy clinical research with the goal of providing better treatment, prevention or cure of the disease. Clinical research is the fundamental transition stage between discovery and treatment. Clinical research provides the scientific basis for all forms of care, addresses patient and caregiver needs and is the backbone for … Continue reading →

"Perispilally administered etanercept meets urgent medical needs now as an Alzheimer's disease treatment, stroke treatment and traumatic brain injury treatment," states Augusto Ramirez of Neurological Wellness Center. (PRWEB) March 26, 2013 Computer-driven, evidence-based advice like that provided by IBMs Watson gives validity to the off label use of prescription drugs states Rolando Rodriguez, M.D., Neurosurgeon at Neurological Wellness Center. The perispinal administration of the drug etanercept (Enbrel) to patients diagnosed with Alzheimers, stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI) has the potential to enable a significant recovery in memory, mood, speech and physical function, stated Dr. Rodriguez. Doctors and nurses are drowning in information with new research popping up daily. They often dont know what to do and are guessing as well as they can, said Samuel Nussbaum, WellPoints Chief Medical Officer. A general consensus is emerging among healthcare professionals that to effectively address the many problems in the present healthcare system in America will require a fundamental redesign, a transformation in which existing modalities are replaced by new care delivery paradigms. The expansion of computer medical decision support systems like that provided by IBM's Watson has emerged as one of the areas where there is broad support among the medical … Continue reading →

LONDON - When Ireland's Katie Taylor was taking hits and striking blows for boxing's Olympic debut in an east London ring last year, John Hardy did not want to look. To this leading neuroscientist and molecular biologist, a boxing bout is little more than a session of mutual brain injury. He was horrified to see women boxing at Olympic level for the first time at the London 2012 Games. "We shouldn't get our fun out of watching people inflict brain damage on each other," said Hardy, who is chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London's Institute of Neurology. "To me as a neuroscientist it's almost surreal." Hardy, whose research work focuses on Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, said having women in an Olympic boxing ring was "a terrible thing" - not because he thinks women should not compete alongside men in sport, but because women boxing simply meant more people inflicting more damage on more brains. That, in turn, was highly likely to mean more people suffering the devastating, incurable symptoms of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's. Read more: Players risk brain injury in boxing, soccer headers, researchers say … Continue reading →

The Brain Injury Association of California is sponsoring the Walk for Brain Injury this Sunday on the west steps of the Capitol. With more than 300,000 sports-related concussions per year, the sixth annual Brain Injury Association of California Walk for Brain Injury is raising money for MindGame, an organization that supports the treatment of concussions. MindGame is a nonprofit organization that is composed of health care providers from Kaiser, Mercy, Sutter and UC Davis which aims to improve management of sports-related concussions. Profits from the walk will go to support the assessment and treatment services that MindGame offers to student athletes who have sustained concussions. The Brain Injury Association of California reports that 10 percent of contact sport athletes will sustain a concussion each season, and 85 percent of concussions are not diagnosed. The association also says that after one concussion, the risk of another concussion is four to six times more likely. Three or more concussions over time can produce permanent brain damage. In 2012, over 800 people participated in the Walk for Brain Injury with over $60,000 raised. This year, NFL players, survivors of concussions and legislators will all take part in the fundraiser that is slated to … Continue reading →

ANCHORAGE- March is Brain Injury Awareness Month. Its a month dedicated to the causes and consequences of brain injury and the need for better prevention, research and advocacy on behalf of those who suffer an injury. The Alaska Bain Injury Network defines a traumatic brain injury (TBI) as damage to the living brain tissue by an external mechanical force or motion. It is usually characterized by a period of altered consciousness (amnesia or coma) that can be very brief (minutes) or very long (months/indefinitely). It's (the brain) a very unforgiving organ from the stand point if it's deprived of oxygen or there is pressure on it, it has a tendency to not want to work again fairly rapidly, said Doctor Tim Cohen with Alaska Regional Hospital. Doctor Cohen along with Doctor Regina Chennault treats many people with TBIs almost every day at the hospital. Chennault says not everyone with a TBI leaves the hospital at the same level of function they did when they came in. Sometimes they have to learn to walk again or learn to talk or learn to write so its not that they usually dont go home the way they were before they came in, Chennault … Continue reading →

Advances in modern neuroscience mean scientists know more than ever about chronic brain damage and the long-term trauma that can result from frequent knocks to the head. (CLAUDIA DAUT) LONDON (Reuters) - When Ireland's Katie Taylor was taking hits and striking blows for boxing's Olympic debut in an east London ring last year, John Hardy did not want to look. To this leading neuroscientist and molecular biologist, a boxing bout is little more than a session of mutual brain injury. He was horrified to see women boxing at Olympic level for the first time at the London 2012 Games. "We shouldn't get our fun out of watching people inflict brain damage on each other," said Hardy, who is chair of Molecular Biology of Neurological Disease at University College London's Institute of Neurology. "To me as a neuroscientist it's almost surreal." Hardy, whose research work focuses on Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, said having women in an Olympic boxing ring was "a terrible thing" - not because he thinks women should not compete alongside men in sport, but because women boxing simply meant more people inflicting more damage on more brains. That, in turn, was highly likely to mean more … Continue reading →