View clinical trials related to Brain Injuries.
Filter by:This project will describe and evaluate the impact of a unique partnership model designed to coordinate transfer of care by formally linking pediatric and adult heath care services. The experiences of young people receiving this model of care will be compared and contrasted against the experiences of young people receiving the current standard of care. Young people with a diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy (CP), Acquired Brain Injury in childhood (ABIc), and Spina Bifida (SB) will be followed during the transition period. Preparation for transition, health care, and transfer of care service delivery will be detailed in a process evaluation. An outcome evaluation will measure the ability of the two models of service to enable youth to maintain continuity within the health care system after transitioning from pediatric to adult care. Secondary outcomes, including how health, well-being, social participation, transition readiness, and health care utilization are affected will also be explored.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability, with an estimated cost of 45 billion dollars a year in the United States alone. Every year, approximately 1.4 million sustain a TBI, of which 50,000 people die, and another 235,000 are hospitalized and survive the injury. As a result, 80,000-90,000 people experience permanent disability associated with TBI. This project is designed to determine whether a device designed to measure brain tissue oxygenation and thus detect brain ischemia while it is still potentially treatable shows promise in reducing the duration of brain ischemia, and to obtain information required to conduct a definitive clinical trial of efficacy. A recently approved device makes it feasible to directly and continuously monitor the partial pressure of oxygen in brain tissue (pBrO2). Several observational studies indicate that episodes of low pBrO2 are common and are associated with a poor outcome, and that medical interventions are effective in improving pBrO2 in clinical practice. However, as there have been no randomized controlled trials carried out to determine whether pBrO2 monitoring results in improved outcome after severe TBI, use of this technology has not so far been widely adopted in neurosurgical intensive care units (ICUs). This study is the first randomized, controlled clinical trial of pBrO2 monitoring, and is designed to obtain data required for a definitive phase III study, such as efficacy of physiologic maneuvers aimed at treating pBrO2, and feasibility of standardizing a complex intensive care unit management protocol across multiple clinical sites. Patients with severe TBI will be monitored with Intracranial pressure monitoring (ICP) and pBrO2 monitoring, and will be randomized to therapy based on ICP along (control group) or therapy based on ICP in addition to pBrO2 values (treatment group). 182 participants will be enrolled at four clinical sites, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center/Parkland Memorial Hospital, the University of Washington/Harborview Medical Center, the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, and the University of Pennsylvania/Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Functional outcome will be assessed at 6-months after injury.
Each year in the United States alone, a third of a million persons are hospitalized for traumatic brain injury (TBI), of whom approximately 1/4 die. Most are less than 30 years of age. Not only are the health care costs staggering for both initial care and rehabilitation, but the societal loss in terms of economic impact reaches into the billions of dollars annually in the U.S. alone. Despite advances in neurosurgical interventions and intensive care management, many survivors do not fully recover. A significant cause of this mortality and morbidity is thought due to potentially preventable secondary injury, namely oxidant injury, inflammation, and apoptosis in the penumbra (the area of brain surrounding the primary lesion, which is at-risk, but potentially salvageable), beginning in the first few hours after the severe traumatic event. Despite the current bleak outlook for many of these patients, a series of animal investigations have uncovered a promising solution to the problem of the secondary injury seen in severe TBI and other similar processes, namely the early administration of estrogen, a strong anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic compound. Based on these encouraging results from animal studies, the investigators hypothesize that early administration of IV Premarin® in patients with severe TBI will safely reduce secondary brain injury, improve neurological outcomes, and improve survival.
This is a controlled trial of amantadine to improve level of function following severe traumatic brain injury. The purpose of this study is: 1. To determine whether amantadine hydrochloride, given in a dose of 200-400 mg, improves functional recovery from the vegetative and minimally conscious states 2. To determine whether amantadine-related gains in function persist following drug discontinuation 3. To determine the safety profile of amantadine in patients with disorders of consciousness
The purpose of this study is to obtain evidence of the safety of NNZ-2566 in healthy female volunteers and to determine the pharmacokinetics (PK) of NNZ-2566 in healthy female volunteers.
Fifteen to twenty percent of adults who suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that requires hospitalization and rehabilitation have been found to have growth hormone (GH) deficiency by GH stimulation testing. Moreover, abnormalities have also been established for the cortisol and thyroid axis. The hypothesis of this proposal is that hormone replacement in TBI patients with documented abnormalities in the GH, thyroid, or cortisol axis will improve muscle function, body composition, aerobic capacity (GH) and tests of neuropsychologic function (GH, thyroid, cortisol).
The current project will examine the effects of aerobic exercise on cognition among a group of veterans who have suffered a mild traumatic brain injury.
Infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) requiring surgery frequently have brain injury seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This occurs in approximately 40% of these newborns, and even though these are full-term infants, the injury seen closely resembles the same form of brain injury that can be seen in premature babies. Much like premature newborns, infants with CHD also have long-term neurodevelopmental problems (in over 50%). The investigators do not know why infants with CHD get this specific form of brain injury. One risk factor is felt to be the inflammation that occurs in response to heart-lung bypass (cardiopulmonary bypass, or CPB), a necessary feature of open-heart surgery. Newborns have a stronger inflammatory reaction to CPB than older children or adults. The investigators do know from animal experiments and other human data that inflammation can be harmful to the developing brain. The investigators hypothesize that children with CHD requiring surgery as a newborn have brain injury due to toxicity from the inflammatory response. The investigators will test this by enrolling newborns undergoing heart surgery to measure markers of inflammation, measure brain injury by MRI, and then test their developmental outcome at 1 and 2 years of age. An association between inflammation and injury might impact what medicines are chosen to protect the brain in future studies, even in other populations such as preterm infants.
Many soldiers returning from their recent service in Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom (OIF/OEF) were exposed to blasts during combat. About 60% of blast-injured soldiers are diagnosed with traumatic brain injury (TBI), with approximately 18% having a mild TBI (mTBI). mTBI is associated with many symptoms, including memory problems, headaches, difficulty concentrating, increased anxiety, and, especially relevant here, reports of difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments and/or when people speak rapidly. While problems understanding rapid speech or speech in noise are associated with hearing loss, many of the OIF/OEF veterans with these complaints have clinically normal hearing. Although there is no physical damage to their ears, these veterans' hearing problems have a negative impact on their quality-of-life and functioning. Thus it is incumbent upon the VA to examine intervention approaches for veterans with normal/near-normal auditory sensitivity and significant complaints of difficulty hearing. Currently, there is no standard-of-care for these veterans other than providing information about hearing, hearing conservation, and the use of communication strategies. Two forms of rehabilitation likely to be more effective than such an informational-counseling approach are: (1) the use of personal miniaturized Frequency modulation (FM) systems, and (2) the provision of auditory training with Posit Science Brain Fitness Program (BFP). Personal FM systems increase the loudness of the speech signal relative to that of the unwanted noise, while the BFP training improves the ability to listen by taking advantage of the brain's ability to change (i.e., neural plasticity). In this study veterans will randomly be selected to receive one of four treatments: (1) FM use alone, (2) BFP training alone, (3) FM+BFP training combined, and (4) informational-counseling. The effectiveness of the interventions will be compared using self-report of hearing functioning on standard questionnaires. Results will contribute to the development of evidence-based intervention approaches for blast-exposed veterans with reported functional hearing difficulties and normal/near-normal auditory sensitivity.
The investigators plan to utilize conivaptan (Vaprisol) to promote isolated water loss, in combination with normal (physiologic) fluid replacement to maintain a normal blood volume status, in patients with severe TBI. The goal of this therapy is to raise blood sodium in a controlled fashion in subjects with severe TBI, and reduce the use of hypertonic saline infusion. We hypothesize that this therapy will maintain a stable state of high blood sodium, while decreasing the overall sodium load needed to achieve these goals.