Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Brain damage was diagnosed in 87 percent of donated brains of 202 football players, including all but one of 111 brains of National Football League athletes. This new study, published today in the journal JAMA, is the latest linking dangerous head injuries to football, though the authors note that the true risk may be lower than the results suggest. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, is the term for brain damage that occurs after repeated blunt impact, like head tackles in football. Previous research has shown that CTE is linked to among other things memory loss, depression, and dementia, and in recent years it has become a point of controversy within football. In todays study scientists examined the brains of 202 former football players to see if they showed the physiological signs of CTE. They also talked to relatives to gather more information about the players, like whether they were known to have suffered head trauma in the past, and their athletic records. The players had an average of 15 years playing football, and the median age at death was 66. Eighty-seven percent of the players had CTE. Breaking this down, this included 99 percent (110 of 111) of NFL players, … Continue reading →

Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez Former Houston dentist Bethaniel Jefferson appears in front of judge Marc Carter in the 228th District Court at the Harris County Courthouse Monday. Jefferson was charged with failing to properly treat a sedated 4-year-old patient who was left with permanent brain damage during a routine procedure. Former Houston dentist Bethaniel Jefferson appears in front of judge Marc Carter in the 228th District Court at the Harris County Courthouse Monday. Jefferson was charged with failing to properly treat a Neveah Hall, 4, is seen in her bed at a specialty and rehabilitation hospital in west Houston Thursday, April 7, 2016, in Houston. She suffered brain damage during a dental procedure. Neveah Hall, 4, is seen in her bed at a specialty and rehabilitation hospital in west Houston Thursday, April 7, 2016, in Houston. She suffered brain damage during a dental procedure. Neveah Hall, 4, is seen in her bed at a specialty and rehabilitation hospital in west Houston Thursday, April 7, 2016, in Houston. She suffered brain damage during a dental procedure. Neveah Hall, 4, is seen in her bed at a specialty and rehabilitation hospital in west Houston Thursday, April 7, 2016, in Houston. She suffered … Continue reading →

In BriefNew research from the University of California, San Francisco demonstrated improved cognitive function in concussed mice with a compound called ISRIB the "memory repair molecule." If it works the same in humans, it could give hope to traumatic brain injury patients around the world. The human brain is among the the most sensitive organs in the body at leastin terms of howeasily it can be damaged. Traumatic brain injury is usually irreparable, oftenresulting in cognitive decline and memory loss. To date, theres no drug or therapy that can reverse this damage when its become permanent. Which is why the discovery of a potential treatment by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is so compelling. The key to their researchis a compound called ISRIB, previously discovered in the lab of UCSF biochemist Peter Walter in 2013. Back then, it was found able to boost the memory of healthy mice. Teaming up with neuroscientist Susanna Rosi, they proceeded to test its effects in mice with brain injuries. After testing it on two separate groups of mice (who hadbrain trauma induced under anesthesia)they found that ISRIB improved the performance of the injured mice in two mazes, one in the … Continue reading →

In May 2016, Michael Severloh was biking to Vancouver's Emily Carr University of Art + Design when he was struck by a car. The 30-year-old slammed into the windshield, flew over six metres, then crashed into the ground. Yet despite the severity of his brain injury according to his acting physician, crashes like his typically result in death or permanent brain damage Severloh's recovery has been smooth and steady. Since his accident, Severloh has relearned how to walk, began to drive, and settled into the familiar rhythms of life with his wife Janis, family and friends. And next fall just over a year after the trauma he'll return to university full time. He owes his recovery, he said, to two things: Wearing his helmet, and Vancouver General Hospital's (VGH) head-injury treatment program. "I'd never want it to happen to anybody," reflected Severloh. "But if you're going to get a head injury, Vancouver's the place to do it they're set up for it." Since 2015, the VGH team has been using a new technique known as advanced multimodal neuromonitoring to treat severe head injuries. The approach was developed at the University of Cambridge and was brought to VGH by Dr. Mypinder … Continue reading →

An experimental drug completely reversed severe learning and memory impairments caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI) in mice, UC San Francisco scientists report. The researchers said the new study offers a promising new avenue for the treatment of TBI in humans, which affects nearly two million individuals annually in the U.S. one every 21 seconds. The drug fully restored the ability to learn and remember in the brain-injured mice even when the animals were first treated as much as a month after injury. The latter results are particularly surprising, as most research on brain injury and stroke has suggested that treatments must be initiated as quickly as possible to preserve normal function. In addition to causing serious cognitive deficits, which can be short-lived or permanent, traumatic brain injury is also a leading risk factor for the development of Alzheimers disease and other forms of dementia. But dozens of seemingly promising treatments have failed in clinical trials, and no approved therapies are currently available. The drug used in the new research, known as ISRIB (pronounced iz-rib), was discovered in 2013 in the laboratory of Peter Walter, PhD, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF and co-senior author of the new study. … Continue reading →

Charlie Gard has a rare mitochondrial disease caused by a genetic defect. Photograph: Family handout/PA Charlie has a very rare mitochondrial disease caused by a genetic defect inherited from his parents. The official diagnosis is infantile onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, referred to generally as MDDS. Mitochondria supply energy to the cells in the human body. Mitochondrial failure leads to cellular injury and cell death. When multiple cells fail, the bodys organs are damaged and shut down. These diseases are usually fatal and kill children, although sometimes they dont show up until adulthood. Where they dont kill, they cause serious permanent brain damage. Charlie is in intensive care at Great Ormond Street hospital in London, the leading childrens hospital in the UK. Life support machines are keeping him alive. The hospital says that he has severe brain damage, cannot move or breathe by himself, is deaf and has epilepsy. It says his heart, liver and kidneys are also affected. His eyelids cannot stay open and because of the weakness of the muscles, his eyes point in different directions and the damage to the brain will not allow his sight to develop. However, Charlies mother, Connie Yates, said on BBC … Continue reading →

July 11, 2017 Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health threat contributing to mortality and morbidity around the world, according to two studies published in PLOS Medicine that quantify the burden of TBI on the populations of Europe and China, respectively. In the first study, Marek Majdan of Trnava University, Slovakia, and colleagues calculated the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to TBI for 16 European countries. Using data acquired from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, the researchers found that a total of 17,049 TBI deaths occurred in the countries in 2013, translating into 374,636 YLL. Each TBI death was, on average, associated with 24.3 YLL and the summary rate was 259.1 TBI YLL per 100,000 people (95% CI: 205.8 to 312.3). Males accounted for significantly more TBI YLL than females (82% of all TBI YLL, a rate ratio 3.24, 95% CI: 3.24 to 3.27). Falls and traffic accidents were the most common external cause of TBI YLL. Extrapolating the numbers to the entire EU, about 1.3 million YLL were attributable to TBI in 2013. "We believe this information could facilitate policy makers in tailoring preventive action so that the respective measures are targeted to … Continue reading →

By Jenna Gallegos By Jenna Gallegos July 10 at 3:00 PM For the first time, scientists have reversed memory and learning deficits in mice following traumatic brain injuries. Thisnew research could someday leadto treatments for head traumaand debilitating cognitive diseases. More than 2 million Americans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are seen in hospital emergency rooms every year. Millions more skip a hospital visit despite suffering a head injury that could cause lasting damage, according to researchers. In a study published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at the University of California in San Francisco found that a new experimental drug can restore normal function in mice following two types of TBIs. Geoffrey Manley, the chief of neurosurgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, sometimes sees dozens of TBI cases a week. He was not involved in the study but called the results very exciting from a clinical perspective. In previous trials where drugs proved effective in mice, treatments were administered right after the injury, according to Manley.But diagnosis and treatment within a few hours does not always occur with humans, he explained. The new successful treatment, which was administered to the mice two to … Continue reading →

In recent years, the Department of Veterans Affairs has come under intense scrutiny and heavy criticism for a variety of reasons. My experience with the VA, however, has been nothing but positive. I was diagnosed with Parkinsons disease 13 years ago. My service in the Army during the Vietnam War qualified me for drug trials at the comprehensive Parkinsons disease center at the McGuire VA hospital in Richmond. McGuire is one of seven of the 162 VA hospitals in the nation to have such a program. Specialists in movement disorder diseases who have treated me have helped slow the progression of my Parkinsons, which has allowed me to live a relatively normal life. One factor that helps explain my good fortune is something I began to notice early in my visits to McGuire: the large number of medical personnel holding joint positions with McGuire and VCU. I had assumed that all personnel at veterans hospitals practiced exclusively for the VA. I have subsequently learned that the presence of VCU clinicians represents one of the most comprehensive academic health partnerships in American history, a cooperative arrangement that began as a result of World War II. *** Following the Allied victory in … Continue reading →

If you have suffered concussions, skull fractures or scalp wounds, take extra care. A study has found that head injuries almost double a mans risk of developing dementia. Researchers from the University of Maryland in the US showed that the inflammation caused by traumatic brain injury can spread and cause long-lasting damage. The findings indicated that the risk is particularly high for men aged between 41 and 56. This could help guide treatment of the injuries, whose severity is often difficult to gauge. They also found that exposing the inflammatory microparticles to a compound called PEG-TB could neutralize them. This opens up the possibility of using that compound or others to treat traumatic brain injury (TBI), and perhaps even other neurodegenerative diseases. A growing swell of research has shown that chronic inflammation leads to progressive cell loss after TBI. To investigate the lingering impact of inflammation, lead researcher Alan Faden focused on microparticles produced by inflammatory brain cells. The results suggested that microparticles can activate normal immune cells, making them potentially toxic to brain neurons. The results potentially provide a new conceptual framework for understanding brain inflammation and its relationship to brain cell loss and neurological deficits after head injury … Continue reading →