Greensboro Personal Injury Lawyer - Head & Brain Injuries

Interesting treatment uses hypothermia to prevent brain damage

Dan Deuterman — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:44:23 GMT

Doctors around the country are experimenting with a new treatment that has been successful in protecting stroke victims and others from brain damage

Physicians use cooling helmets, cooling pads and IVs to induce hypothermia, which decreases the brain's demand for oxygen, thus reducing the likelihood of brain damage.

Sounds like something you'd see on "House," I know, but physicians are using this technique successfully to help stroke victims and oxygen-deprived newborns, who would be at risk for celebral palsy.

This article explains how the hypothermia treatment works to prevent brain damage that results from stroke and birth injuries.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Head and Brain Injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Dan Deuterman

Football players at highest risk for brain injuries

Dan Deuterman — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:29:33 GMT

A California teen who suffered a massive brain injury while playing football has plenty of company: Football induces the most brain injuries of any sport in the United States.

Scott Eveland, 17, of San Marcos, CA was injured during a recent high school football game. The only signs he was injured was appearing dazed and stumbling. He remains in a coma in critical condition.

The very nature of the world of competitive sports may cause coaches and parents to send injured kids back out on the field before they're healed. And in other cases, they may fail to even notice warning signs of a brain injury.

Parents and coaches need to be vigilant. Concussions, even mild, may not show up on a medical imaging test and can be pre-cursors to serious brain injury. Signs of a concussion include nausea, fatigue, headaches, and oversensitivity to light. Concussions can also be more dangerous in adolescent athletes because the young brain is not fully formed and the skull is thinner.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Head and Brain Injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Dan Deuterman

Benoit's brain injuries may have caused his actions

Dan Deuterman — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:30:16 GMT

We've blogged before about the devastating effects of brain injuries.

Brain injuries can cause lasting and chronic medical conditions that seriously impede on quality of life.

Research has shown that professional athletes who have suffered from concussions and other brain injuries can have lifelong problems as a result. But the updated news on the following story is, by far, one of the saddest.

New research on the brain tissue of professional wrestler Chris Benoit reveals severe damage from his years on the wrestling circuit. This could account for his severe depression, erratic behavior, and murder-suicide of his family.

Initially, it was thought that steroids or "roid-rage" caused his actions.

WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, 40, strangled his wife and 7-year-old son, placed Bibles next to the bodies and hanged himself on a piece of exercise equipment the weekend of June 22, 2007 in his suburban Atlanta home.

For more information on this subject matter, please refer to the section on Head and Brain Injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Dan Deuterman

Study Finds Concussions Increase Risk of Depression

Dan Deuterman — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 08:52:55 GMT

A recent study of retired NFL players found those who experienced at least three concussions during their careers had triple the risk of suffering from depression than those players who had no concussions.

The study of 2,500 retired players, conducted through UNC-Chapel Hill Center for the Study of Retired Athletes and published in the journal of American College of Sports Medicine, said the findings are not only relevant to the 60-year-old retired player, but to those currently playing in the NFL. This research could also have implications for people who have suffered from a traumatic brain injury.

Athletes ...who recalled one or two concussions were 1 1/2 times more likely to be diagnosed with depression, said Kevin Guskiewicz, research director of the center.
The NFL began a concussion management program in the mid-1990s which prompted new helmet designs. "It will be interesting to see in 40 years what happens to these current players who have better management," Dr. Gerry Gioia, director of the pediatric neuropsychology program and the Safe Concussion Outcome Recovery & Education program at Children's National Medical Center in Washington.

There have been reports that NFL teams push their players back onto the playing field too soon after a concussion. It was recently reported that 34-year-old Ted Johnson of the New England Patriots, shows early signs of Alzheimer 's disease. Back in 2002, he suffered two concussions in four days. A forensic pathologist who studied NFL player Andre Waters' brain said that it had been damaged by concussions. Waters killed himself last November.

It will be interesting to watch how the NFL takes on the responsibility of policing itself to protect players. This study illustrates that closed-head injuries and concussions can cause far more significant health problems than headaches and nausea.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Dan Deuterman

Promising treatment for traumatic brain injuries

Dan Deuterman — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 09:08:01 GMT

Researchers may have discovered breakthrough treatment for traumatic brain injuries (TBI) with the hormone progesterone.

Emory University has been conducting research on how progesterone helps speed the healing process of the brain. TBI has become a common injury of American troops in Iraq and, unfortunately, was what ABC news anchor Bob Woodruff suffered after a bomb explosion while reporting from Iraq in January 2006. Traumatic brain injuries are also common after car accidents, falls and other workplace injjuries .

This new treatment would be especially beneficial to EMTs responding to accident scenes. When victims of TBI are given high doses of progesterone either immediately at the accident scene or even within a few hours, it can reduce their chances of dying 57 percent.

Progesterone could become standard supplies for all EMTs, researchers recommend.

"Traumatic brain injuries happen every day in the United States, most commonly after car accidents and falls. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.4 million Americans suffer brain injuries each year, and 50,000 die as a result"

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Dan Deuterman

Mild Brain Injuries Can Cause Chronic Sleep Trouble

Christina Cole — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:13:55 GMT

Researchers believe people that suffer from mild brain injuries might be at increased for sleep disorders.

In the April 3rd issued of Neurology, researchers at the University of California, in San Diego, studied 42 people that complain of insomnia after suffering a mild traumatic brain injury. Of the 42 patients, 15 patients had a circadian rhythm sleep disorder (CRSD) which is a problem with the timing of sleep.

Out of 15 patients with CRSD, eight of them had a "delayed sleep phase syndrome," including problems falling asleep and waking up. While the other seven patients had irregular sleeping patterns.

These findings help to highlight the need for improved diagnosis and treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders in patients who've had a mild brain injury and complain of insomnia.

"Misdiagnosis of these patients as insomniac may lead to prescription of medications, which help people fall asleep but don't help normalize the sleep-wake cycle," Ayalon said.
Since circadian rhythm sleep disorders are often associated with cognitive and psychological problems, proper treatment of these disorders may lead to improvements in other brain injury-related symptoms in these patients, the experts said.
"As many as 40 to 65 percent of people with mild traumatic brain injury complain of insomnia. This is concerning, since sleeping problems may exacerbate other brain injury symptoms such as headache, emotional distress, and cognitive impairment, making the rehabilitation process much harder," Ayalon said.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Christina Cole