Pregnancy Hormone for Traumatic Brain Injury

DURHAM, N.C.

It can happen in an instant and change lives forever. Close to two million people are affected by traumatic brain injury every year. Worldwide, its a major cause of death and disability. Now, researchers are hoping something that our body produces naturally can help bring the first ever TBI treatment to those who need it.

As I was driving, I blacked out behind the wheel and the car went into the back of a parked 18 wheeler, Lester Talley told Ivanhoe.

Health issues lead to Lester Talleys near fatal accident. The husband and father of two suffered a serious traumatic brain injury.

My brain had started swelling, Lester said.

There really is no definitive therapy for the treatment of acute brain injury, Daniel Laskowitz, MD, MHS, Professor Medicine (Neurology), Neurobiology, & Anesthesiology, and Director, Neurovascular Laboratories at Duke University Medical Center, told Ivanhoe.

Lesters wife Ashley feared the worst.

Seemed like my world was coming to an end, Ashley told Ivanhoe.

While in a coma, Lester was enrolled in a phase three trial called SyNAPSe. The study is testing if progesterone could help treat TBI. Its a natural hormone produced in men and women, thats most often associated with pregnancy.

There is good evidence that it reduces inflammation, Dr. Daniel Laskowitz said.

Excerpt from:
Pregnancy Hormone for Traumatic Brain Injury