New trial aims to improve recovery for severe brain injury – Sampan

Approximately 2.5 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unfortunately, some of those who suffer TBI do not survive, and many are left with lifelong disability.

A new research study aims to help. Called BOOST-3, or Brain Oxygen Optimization in Severe TBI, is a nationwide clinical trial taking place at dozens of hospitals across the United States. It is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a large government organization that funds much of the medical research in this country. The purpose of the study is to learn if either of two strategies for monitoring and treating patients with severe TBI in the intensive care unit (ICU) is more likely to help them recover.

In one treatment strategy, doctors concentrate on preventing high intracranial pressure (ICP) caused by a swollen brain. In the other strategy, doctors try to prevent high ICP and low brain oxygen levels. Both of these treatment strategies are used in standard care. However, it is not known if one treatment is more effective than the other. People with severe TBI presenting to one of the enrolling emergency departments in the first few hours of their injury will be given the best known treatments available, and may be enrolled in BOOST-3.

In the New England region (Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts), 5 hospitals will be participating: UMass Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Maine Medical Center, and Yale New Haven Hospital.

Because head injury is a life-threatening condition requiring immediate treatment, some patients will be enrolled without consent if a family member or another representative is not rapidly available. Every attempt will be made to locate family prior to enrollment to allow them to decide about the patients participation in the study.

Before the study starts, meetings will be held in the community to provide information, answer questions and get community members thoughts and feelings about the study.

They are looking for your opinions! You can provide your feedback in our survey here: http://bit.ly/BOOST3CommunitySurvey. Anyone who wants to know more should go to http://www.Boost3trial.org or email SIREN@partners.org. They want to know what you think, and you can request an opt-out bracelet if you dont want to be enrolled.

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New trial aims to improve recovery for severe brain injury - Sampan