View clinical trials related to Brain Damage.
Filter by:Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) is a neurodegenerative disease of unclear etiology characterized by a clinical trias named after the neurosurgeon Hakim. It includes cognitive impairment (dementia), gait disturbance, and urinary incontinence. These symptoms, which frequently occur in the elderly population, often overlap with the symptoms of "other" neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease and other (pre)senile dementias. To distinguishing NPH from "other" dementias is crucial in determining whether a patient will benefit from a surgical procedure (ventriculoperitoneal shunt placement) or not. At the same time, the options for assessing the patient's condition's progression and distinguishing between the progression of neurodegeneration in a broader sense or malfunction of the drainage system are very limited. Therefore, the role of a biomarker that could meet these expectations mentioned above is highly desirable.
Extreme prematurity is constantly increasing according to the World Health Organization. However, methods to train premature infants at risk of disability is sorely lacking. The goal of this project is to overcome this problem. In previous studies, the investigators discovered that promoting the crawling of typical newborns on a mini skateboard, the Crawliskate (a new tool that the investigators designed and patented EP2974624A1), is an excellent way to stimulate infants' motor and locomotor development. This method is a promising way to provide early interventions in infants at heightened risk for developmental delay, such as premature infants. The specific objective of this study is to determine if early training in crawling on this mini skateboard will accelerate motor (particularly locomotor) and/or neuropsychological development in very premature infants identified as high risk for developmental delay. Methodology: The investigators will study and follow two groups of very premature infants born between 24 and 26 weeks of gestational age or born between 26 and 32 with major brain lesions. These infants will be recruited before their hospital discharge at the NICU. After their discharge from the hospital, one group of infants will be trained at home by their parents under the supervision of physiotherapists to crawl on the Crawliskate every day for 2 months (Crawli group), and one group of infants will receive regular medical care (Control group). All infants will be tested for: 1)their crawling proficiency on the Crawliskate at term-equivalent age (just before training for the trained groups) and at 2 and 6 months corrected age (CA, i.e., age determined from the date on which they should have been born), 2) their motor proficiency between 2 and 12 months CA (2D and 3D recording of head control, sitting, crawling, stepping, walking) and 3) their neurodevelopmental, motor and neuropsychological development between 0 and 28 months CA: BSID III edition, ASQ-3, Amiel-Tison's Neurological Assessment, Prechtl Assessment of general movements. One more ASQ-3 questionnaire will be provided at five years. Expected results: The first research hypothesis is that premature infants trained daily to crawl (for two months after discharge from the NICU) will acquire proficient crawling patterns and develop earlier and more effective motor and neuropsychological development than premature infants who receive no training.
Postoperative delirium (POD) and postoperative neuropsychological dysfunction are frequently noted in critically ill patients undergoing elective or emergency surgery and treated in the intensive care unit (ICU). Delirium is a serious complication that prolongs hospital stay and contributes to poor outcomes and increased risk of death. The pathomechanisms of delirium are still not very well recognized and there are several theories that seem to explain it. The most important pathomechanisms of delirium are associated with cerebral ischaemia, disorders in acetylcholinergic system, disorders in neuronal plasticity and oxidative stress. Cerebrolysin, a mixture of various peptides obtained from the structural proteins of the pig's brain, possesses strong antioxidative and neuronal protective properties. Cerebrolysin is recommended to treat patients with dementia, after cerebral ischemia and after brain trauma. It has been documented that Cerebrolysin reduces the severity of secondary brain damage after ischemia, improving neuronal plasticity and then cognitive function, and reducing severity of oxidative stress. Based on these properties it can be speculated that Cerebrolysin may reduce the risk of postoperative delirium in patients undergoing elective surgery, which are associated with a high risk of postoperative delirium.
Robotic assisted laparoscopic surgery has become an alternative to open or laparoscopic technique in various surgical fields. Robot assisted laparoscopic surgery is preferred by surgeons and patients due to easy accessibility, lower blood loss and lower transfusion rates. However, robotic assisted laparoscopic surgery can cause significant changes in cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic and cerebral physiology because it requires a deep trendy position. When long -lasting deep trendelenburg position is applied, the cerebral autoregulation is impaired. In the literature, the presence of cases with brain edema is shown. In recent years, many biomarkers have been used in the evaluation of brain damage. S100 Calcium Binding Protein (S100β), N Ron specific enolase (NSE), Glial Fibrils are among the biomarkers used to show acidic protein (GFAP) brain damage. The S100β is specific and is mainly produced by astrocytes and enters the bloodstream after neuron damage. Glial fibrils is an acidic protein (GFAP), a protein encoded by the GFAP gene in humans, an intermediate filament protein produced in the central nervous system. Neuron specific enolase (NSE) is one of the enzymes that increase brain damage encoded by Enolase 2 (ENO2) gene. Mini Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment will be performed to determine neurological changes developing in patients. The purpose of this study; Robotic assisted laparoscopic surgery is to examine the brain damage that may develop in patients due to deep trendelenburg position in patients with the said biomarkers and to evaluate the anesthesia methods applied in these surgery in line with the study results.
Neurofilament Light Chain Protein (NfL) has been found by many studies as a sensitive biomarker of neuronal damage from several reasons, e.g. neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, etc.), inflamation (HIV) or trauma. Its role as biomarker thus offers a possibility to predict and manage diseases associated with neuronal damage. Therefore our aim is to investigate the changes in level of NfL in hydrocephalus and to find its role in management of treatment in hydrocephalus.
The SafeBoosC-III 2 year follow up study will follow up on all patients randomised in the SafeBoosC-III clinical trial (NCT03770741). The investigators will collect data when the patients are two years of corrected age from routine standardised follow up assessments, parental questionnaires as well as informal assessments. The study will commence in September 2021, and will expect to include all 72 sites across 18 countries, which take part of the SafeBoosC-III clinical trial.
Transcranial Doppler is performed daily in Intensive Care Unit in brain damaged patients. For a few years now, the measurement of the photomotor reflex by quantitative Pupillometry has been routinely performed in Intensive Care Units. The objective of this work is to see if Transcranial Doppler recorded parameters and Pupillary parameters are correlated to the neurological prognosis evaluated at 9 months by the Modified Rankin Score (mRS) and the Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOS-E).
Viral pandemics, such as HIV and SARS-Cov-V1, have shown that they can lead to acute and / or delayed neurological complications. At the actual context of the pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), neurological manifestations seem to be confirmed since in 85% of COVID-19 patients, present neurological symptoms, including anosmia, ageusia, periorbital pain, dizziness, fatigue, even moderate headache, moderate memory and/or behavioral disorders. However, these neurological manifestations are not well studied and their radiological features are not well described. It is therefore important to assess these potential neurological complications in COVID-19 patients. To the investigator knowledge, there is no previous study in the literature describing spectral brain changes in COVID + patients. Thus, the goal of this work is to describe the radiological semiology using MRI and particularly Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic (MRS) biomarkers in the evaluation of acute and / or delayed brain damage in COVID + patients presenting a neurological manifestations that are initially related to the cranial nerves damage.
Time processing involves different abilities - i.e. estimating the duration of an event and moving in past and future time - and it is a fundamental ability in everyday life. For these reasons the assessment and the rehabilitation of time deficits in brain damaged patients is extremely important. The ability to estimate and reproduce time processing is usually evaluated using computerized tasks and it is influenced by aging: young participants overestimate and elderly participants underestimate time durations. Virtual Reality is an ecological approach that has recently been used for the assessment of cognitive deficits. Here we use Virtual Reality to study the ability to estimate time duration of an action execution and perception in a simulated everyday activity.
The efficacy of an innovative rehabilitation treatment for deficit in time processing is tested in right brain damaged patients. Patients with a focal lesion following a stroke and without general cognitive impairment will be submitted to computerized tests assessing the ability to estimate time duration (intervals around 7500 ms) and to mental travel in time. Moreover, the impact of the deficit in time processing in everyday life will be evaluated by using ad hoc questionnaires. Patients will perform tasks before and after two weeks of a new rehabilitation treatment, combining a training for one week with prismatic googles inducing prismatic adaptation (PA) plus Virtual Reality (VR) and a training for one week with neutral googles inducing no-adaptation (NA) plus Virtual Reality. Participants will be randomized into two groups. Each group will be submitted to both treatments in a different order, accordingly with a crossover design. A greater amelioration in time processing after PA+VR than NA+VR training should be found. Moreover, an improvement in everyday life activities is expected accordingly with the amelioration in time processing.