Vacuum Pressure Promotes Healing After Severe TBI

Following severe traumatic brain injury brain swelling compresses brain tissue and limits blood flow to damaged tissue in the area of injury as well as healthy surrounding tissue, so more tissue dies. Is there a way to prevent this outcome? Possibly. According to study by Drs. Louis Argenta and Michael Morykwas published in the August 2014 issue of Neurosurgery the application of a vacuum (i.e. a negative pressure zone) over bruised brain tissue in pigs produced much better healing by increasing blood flow following an experimentally induced traumatic brain injury. Applying 100 mm Hg. Pressure for 3 days reduced blood leakage from the brain, increased blood flow in the brain, and produced a much smaller area of visible brain contusion in the treated pigs than pigs treated with a smaller vacuum or no vacuum over their site of brain injury.