Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Intensive care medicine · Mar 2017
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyVenous thromboembolic events in critically ill traumatic brain injury patients.
To estimate the prevalence, risk factors, prophylactic treatment and impact on mortality for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) treated in the intensive care unit. ⋯ Despite mechanical and pharmacological prophylaxis, VTE occurs in one out of every five patients with TBI treated in the ICU. Higher age, greater weight and greater severity of TBI increase the risk. The development of VTE was not associated with excess mortality.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2017
ReviewPumping the brakes: Neurotrophic factors for the prevention of dementia following traumatic brain injury.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of disability and death worldwide, affecting as many as 54,000,000-60,000,000 people annually. TBI is associated with significant impairments in brain function, impacting cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and physical functioning. Although much previous research has focused on the impairment immediately following injury, TBI may have much longer-lasting consequences, including neuropsychiatric disorders and cognitive impairment. ⋯ Unfortunately, however, no such treatment is currently available, making this a major area of unmet medical need. Increasing the level of neurotrophic factor expression in key brain areas may be one potential therapeutic strategy. Of the neurotrophic factors, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) may be particularly effective for preventing the emergence of long-term complications of TBI, including dementia, because of its ability to reduce apoptosis, stimulate neurogenesis, and increase neuroplasticity.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Predicting Recovery Patterns After Sport-Related Concussion.
Clinicians sometimes treat concussed individuals who have amnesia, loss of consciousness (LOC), a concussion history, or certain symptom types more conservatively, but it is unclear whether recovery patterns differ in individuals with these characteristics. ⋯ Athletes who experienced amnesia had more symptoms and greater deficits in cognition and balance. Symptoms and cognitive or balance deficits were not consistently associated with LOC or concussion history. Acute symptoms had a strong influence on balance scores and, to a lesser extent, on cognition. However, we found no evidence to support more cautious return-to-play decisions for athletes with these characteristics, as group recovery occurred within normal timelines. Our study supports current clinical practice: recommending that athletes be withheld from activity until they are asymptomatic, followed by a graduated return-to-play progression.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Mar 2017
ReviewCerebral perfusion pressure targets individualised to pressure-reactivity index in moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: A systematic review.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently triggers a disruption of cerebral autoregulation. The cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) at which autoregulation is optimal ("CPPopt") varies between individuals, and can be calculated based on fluctuations between arterial blood pressure and intracranial pressure. This review assesses the effect of individualizing CPP targets to pressure reactivity index (a measure of autoregulation) in patients with TBI. ⋯ Although the data suggest an association between variation from CPPopt and poor clinical outcome at 6 months, the quality of evidence prevents firm conclusions, particularly regarding causality, from being drawn. Available data suggest that targeting CPPopt might represent a technique to improve outcomes following TBI, but currently there is insufficient high-quality data to support a recommendation for use in clinical practice. Further prospective, randomized controlled studies should be undertaken to clarify its role in the acute management of TBI.
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Injury rates compare the relative frequency of sport-related concussions across groups. However, they may not be intuitive to policy makers, parents, or coaches in understanding the likelihood of concussion. ⋯ Although men's wrestling had a higher concussion rate and risk, men's football had the largest average number of concussions per team and the largest percentage of teams with at least 1 concussion. The risk of concussion, average number of concussions per team, and percentage of teams with concussions may be more intuitive measures of incidence for decision makers. Calculating these additional measures is feasible within existing injury surveillance programs, and this method can be applied to other injury types.