View clinical trials related to Brain Injuries, Traumatic.
Filter by:The primary objective of the study is to determine whether armodafinil treatment is more effective than placebo treatment in patients with excessive sleepiness associated with mild or moderate closed traumatic brain injury (TBI).
This study investigates how well a new therapy program prevents persistent symptoms (e.g., headaches, fatigue, irritability, etc.) after concussion. The program involves examining beliefs about concussion and learning healthy coping strategies, and is completed with the first three months post-injury.
When fever is present in patients with stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), or brain hemorrhage, it has been associated with worse outcomes including larger areas of tissue death, increased length of stay, worse degree of coma, lower ability to function, and higher mortality. Both adult and pediatric TBI national guidelines state that maintenance of normal body temperature should be a standard of care. However, no further standards or options are presented to specifically guide practice. The current ischemic stroke guidelines state that fever should be treated with fever-reducing agents and offer "cooling devices" as an option but do not provide specifics to guide practice. Over 50% of patients in the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Harborview Medical Center develop fever during the course of their stay. With elevated temperatures the body consumes more oxygen than if the temperature was normal, causing less oxygen to be available to the brain. This may lead to injury of the brain cells and a diminished capacity for healing. Thus, temperature management in neurologically vulnerable patients is both a prevalent and problematic challenge. Based on this information the goal of the present proposal is to evaluate if 1) A standardized, step-wise approach to temperature management using a Normothermia Protocol is successful in achieving and maintaining normal temperature in Neurosurgical ICU patients; and 2) If maintenance of normal temperature will be associated with fewer episodes of diminished responsiveness in their neurological exams as evidenced by a measure of depth of coma, as measured by the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) compared to a control group treated according to usual care.
The purpose of this study is to determine if hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) improves the cognitive function of OIF/OEF individuals who have chronic mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). Cognitive function includes such things as thinking, remembering, recognition, concentration ability and perception. Traumatic brain injury is common with head injuries caused by blows to the head, nearby explosions, or concussion. Subjects will be assigned to an intervention or sham arm. Computer based cognitive tests will be used as outcome measures. Subjects are enrolled by invitation only.
The purpose of this study is to determine whether NNZ-2566 is safe and effective in the treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Since the primary damage from traumatic brain injury (TBI) is irreversible, the focus of medical management of TBI is preventing secondary injury that can be life-threatening and worsen patient outcome. Insight into the pathologic mechanisms of secondary injury, which are largely unknown, is required for developing better treatments. In preliminary studies, the investigators have found that a pathologic brain activity, known as spreading depression, recurs in a large number of TBI patients in the first week after injury. Spreading depressions are short-circuits of brain function that arise spontaneously from an injury and spread repeatedly as waves into neighboring brain tissue. Animal research has shown that spreading depressions can cause secondary injury to the brain. The primary objective of this observational study is to determine whether the occurrence or severity of spreading depression is related to worse neurologic recovery from TBI. Results from the study will determine whether monitoring of spreading depression should be used as a guide or target for improved medical management of the TBI patient.
The study will explore the neurocognitive effect of four weeks of treatment with amantadine versus placebo in patients with traumatic brain injury using the Interval Bisection Timing Task. Approximately 16 individuals with traumatic brain injury are expected to participate in this study. Subject participation is expected to last up to 8 weeks with 16 study visits.
Thousands of soldiers, marines, and other military personnel have had injuries to the brain due the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, 1.5 million civilians per year in the United States have traumatic brain injuries caused by car accidents, falls, sports-related injuries or assaults. There are important advances in technology that we think will help us learn a lot more about these injuries. One such advance involves new types of MRI scans that we think will be able to show what has happened to the brain after trauma more clearly that regular scans can. These first new scan is called diffusion tensor imaging, which shows injury to the axons (the wiring of the brain). The second new scan is called resting-state functional MRI correlation analysis, which shows how well various parts of the brain are connected to each other. Importantly, the new types of scans can be done using regular scanners that we already have in every major hospital. The innovation is entirely in how the scanners are used and how the resulting pictures are analyzed on a computer after they have been taken. Our overall goal is to see whether these new MRI scans will be useful for people who have had traumatic brain injuries. We have already tested them on some civilian brain injury patients and found them to be very helpful. For this study, we will test them on military personnel who have had traumatic brain injuries caused by explosions. The specific goal will be to see if the amount of injury we see can be used to predict how well the patients will do overall over the next 6-12 months. We think with the new scans we will be able to predict overall outcomes better than with regular scans and other information. A related goal will be to see whether injuries to specific parts of the brain seen by these new scans can be used to predict whether patients will be likely to have specific problems like memory loss, attention deficit, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. A final goal will be to repeat the scans 6-12 months later to see whether the new MRI scans can show whether the injuries to the brain have healed, gotten worse, or stayed the same. If the study is successful, it will show that these new MRI techniques can to be used to make earlier and more accurate diagnoses of traumatic brain injury, predictions of the sorts of problems that are likely to occur after brain injury, and assessments of how severe the injuries are. This study will help traumatic brain injury patients. It will be most useful for military personnel who have had brain injuries due to explosions. It is highly likely that it will also be useful for younger adults who have had brain injuries due to other causes like car accidents, sports-related concussions, falls, or assaults. It is possible that but not known for sure whether it will help young children or older adults with traumatic brain injuries. These new scans could help with decisions about whether military personnel can return to duty, what sort of rehabilitation would benefit them most, and what family members should watch for and expect. This could become used in some hospitals within 2 years, and could become standard in every major hospital within 5 years. The new scans could also be helpful in developing new treatments. For example, if a new drug works by blocking injury to the axons, it would be a good idea to test on people who have injury to their axons. Right now we have no good way to tell who these people are, and so a new drug like this would get tested on lots of people who don't have injured axons, along with those who do. This would make it harder to tell if the new drug is working. With the new scans we should be able to tell who has injured axons, tell how severe the injury is, and figure out whom to test the drugs on. It will likely take 10 years or more to develop new drugs like this. Further in the future, the new scans could be used to help guide surgery to implant computer chips to help rewire the brain. We don't know how long this will take, but estimate 15-20 years or more. Overall MRI scanning is very safe and has no known major risks. Because the scanner uses strong magnets, anyone with metal objects in their bodies can't be scanned, as this could be dangerous. We will make sure that no one with metal objects in their bodies is included in the study. There can be some psychological risks involved in taking tests and answering questions, but these are usually mild and can be managed. There is always a risk that important confidential information will be made public and that this could have consequences. We will do everything possible to maintain confidentiality. Nearly all of the information will only be identified using a code number and not by the name of the person, and all of it will be kept securely.
The purpose of this study is to study the effect of amantadine on irritability and aggression caused by traumatic brain injury.
Growth Hormone (GH) deficiency, defined by insufficient GH response to a variety of stimulating compounds, is found in 20-35% of adults who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI) requiring inpatient rehabilitation1. However, there is no accepted gold standard for diagnosing GH deficiency in this population. Further, the major effector molecule of the somatotropic axis, Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) has recently been recognized as an important neurotrophic agent. Since most repair and regeneration after TBI occurs within the first few months after injury, absolute or relative deficiencies of GH and IGF-1 in the subacute period after TBI are potentially important factors why some patients fail to make a good functional recovery. The proposed study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of rhGH, starting at 1 month post TBI, continuing for 6 months. This study has one primary hypothesis, that treatment with recombinant human Growth Hormone (rhGH) in the subacute period after TBI results in improved functional outcome 6 months after injury. As secondary hypotheses, we will investigate what is the optimal method to diagnose GH deficiency in TBI survivors and study the relationship between GH deficiency and insufficiency and functional recovery.