Head & Brain Injury Advice and Resources

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Omega-3 Supplements reduce Risk of Dementia Post-TBI

In the Feb. 2011 issue of Neurosurgery James Mills, M.D. and colleagues published research showing that giving rats Omega-3 supplements consisting of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) for 30 days prior to TBI reduced the amount of beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) in the axons of the rats’ brains. Hight amounts of APP are associated with

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Doctor examining a brain CT scan

Brainscope device for on-field Diagnosis of MTBI

BrainScope is a new EEG device designed to detect concussions in athletes on the field. A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. BrainScope consists of a headband with 8 electrodes placed over the forehead and temples. The device sends EEG data to a handheld computer for processing. The mini-computer lets a physician

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TBI Increases the Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

Researchers at the UCLA Department of Neurobiology led by Dr. Marie-Francoise Chesselet demonstrated in 2012 that inducing a moderate TBI in rats caused the rats to lose 30% of their dopamine-producing neurons within a 26 week period following the TBI. This made the rats vulnerable to developing Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The researchers found

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Similarities of TBI and PTSD

While the moderate and severe forms of TBI are associated with blunt or penetrating head trauma and loss of consciousness, PTSD (an anxiety disorder) is associated with exposure to a terrifying, life-threatening danger that need not involve either head trauma or loss of consciousness. Yet the consequences of TBI and PTSD are remarkably

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Caution issued against early withdrawal of Life Support for severe TBI

On 8/29/11 the Canadian Medical Association issued a caution against early withdrawal of life support for patients with severe TBI. They found that 70% of hospital deaths among patients with severe TBI came from withdrawal of life support within the first three days of admission to ICU. Yet withdrawing life support during that

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Bedside EEG Test Shows Some TBI Patients Called Vegetative Are Aware

In the November 10, 2011 issue of The Lancet Dr. Damian Cruse and colleagues describe an inexpensive, bedside technique for ascertaining if a person who appears to be in a vegetative state from severe TBI has awareness or not. The research team asked 16 severe TBI patients diagnosed as vegetative and 12 healthy

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Alzheimer’s Type Brain Degeneration Triggered By TBI

Douglas Smith, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine teamed up with neuropathologist William Stewart, MD, from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, to study the long term neuro-degenerative effects of a single TBI on the human brain. They used post-mortem

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Radiological Proof that MTBI Reduces Working Memory

In the September 2012 issue of the journal Radiology Taiwanese researchers present a study on 20 patients with mild TBI and 18 healthy controls which shows deficits in working memory in the mild TBI patients. While being scanned by a functional MRI machine, the test subjects underwent a series of memory tests involving

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traumatic brain injury in sports

CDC Redefines Concussion

The most recent definition of a concussion by the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is as follows: “A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury, or TBI, caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head that can change the way your brain normally works. Concussions can also occur from

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Flu Drug Helps Patients with Severe TBI

Amantadine is an old drug originally developed to treat respiratory infections caused by the flu. In September 2012 Dr. Joseph Giacino (a neuropsychologist who teaches at Harvard University and sees patients at Mass. General Hospital in Boston) published a study on the use of Amantadine in patients with severe brain injury who were

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