Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Feb 2012
Optic nerve sheath measurement and raised intracranial pressure in paediatric traumatic brain injury.
The optimal management of children ventilated for more than 4 h with traumatic brain injury (TBI) necessitates invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring, though some patients never have raised ICP. If non-invasive screening can reliably rule out elevated ICP, invasive devices can be limited to those in whom neuro-intensive care measures are indicated. ⋯ All children with clinically significantly raised ICP had abnormal ONSD, whereas those with normal ICP did not. Despite the small numbers, this study suggests that the ONSD may be useful in identifying children with TBI and normal ICP and, so, help avoid the insertion of unnecessary ICP monitors.
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Eur J Trauma Emerg S · Feb 2012
Prognostic value of various intracranial pathologies in traumatic brain injury.
Various intracranial pathologies in traumatic brain injury (TBI) can help to predict patient outcomes. These pathologies can be categorised using the Marshall Classification or the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) dictionary or can be described through traditional descriptive terms such as subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), subdural haemorrhage (SDH), epidural haemorrhage (EDH) etc. The purpose of this study is to assess the prognostic value of AIS scores, the Marshall Classification and various intracranial pathologies in TBI. ⋯ In this relatively recent dataset, each of the brain injury classification systems enhanced equally the performance of an early mortality prediction model in traumatic brain injury patients. The significant effect of brain swelling and brain stem injury on the outcome in comparison to injuries such as SAH suggests the need to improve therapeutic approaches to patients who have sustained these injuries.
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Frontiers in neurology · Jan 2012
Assessment of the effects of acute and repeated exposure to blast overpressure in rodents: toward a greater understanding of blast and the potential ramifications for injury in humans exposed to blast.
Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) resulting from exposure to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) has fueled a requirement to develop animals models that mirror this condition using exposure to blast overpressure (BOP). En route to developing a model of repeated exposure to BOP we sought to initially characterize the effects of acute BOP exposure in rodents, focusing specifically on the levels of BOP exposure that produced clinical mTBI symptoms. We first measured BOP effects on gross motor function on a balance beam. ⋯ Results showed that repeated exposure in the frontal, but not side, orientation to the BOP wave produced a transitory learning deficit on a Morris water maze task as shown by significantly longer latencies to reach the submerged platform in the second and third blocks of a four block session. Implications of these data are discussed in relation to the manifestation of mTBI in military personnel exposed to IEDs. Finally, we suggest that there are multiple types of long-term brain injury from blast exposure.
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Frontiers in neurology · Jan 2012
A Multiscale Approach to Blast Neurotrauma Modeling: Part I - Development of Novel Test Devices for in vivo and in vitro Blast Injury Models.
The loading conditions used in some current in vivo and in vitro blast-induced neurotrauma models may not be representative of real-world blast conditions. To address these limitations, we developed a compressed-gas driven shock tube with different driven lengths that can generate Friedlander-type blasts. The shock tube can generate overpressures up to 650 kPa with durations between 0.3 and 1.1 ms using compressed helium driver gas, and peak overpressures up to 450 kPa with durations between 0.6 and 3 ms using compressed nitrogen. ⋯ Finite element models of the shock tube and receiver were developed and validated to better elucidate the mechanics of this methodology. A demonstration exposing a culture to the loading conditions created by this system suggest tissue strains less than 5% for all pressure levels simulated, which was well below functional deficit thresholds for strain rates less than 50 s(-1). This novel system is not limited to a specific type of culture model and can be modified to reproduce more complex pressure pulses.
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Frontiers in neurology · Jan 2012
Experimental animal models for studies on the mechanisms of blast-induced neurotrauma.
A blast injury is a complex type of physical trauma resulting from the detonation of explosive compounds and has become an important issue due to the use of improvised explosive devices (IED) in current military conflicts. Blast-induced neurotrauma (BINT) is a major concern in contemporary military medicine and includes a variety of injuries that range from mild to lethal. Extreme forces and their complex propagation characterize BINT. ⋯ However, factors such as systemic response, brain edema, inflammation, vasospasm, or changes in synaptic transmission and behavior must be evaluated in experimental animals. Against this background, it is necessary that such animal experiments are carefully developed imitations of actual components in the blast injury. This paper describes and discusses examples of different designs of experimental models relevant to BINT.