Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Feb 2017
Blood aggravates histological and functional damage after acute subdural hematoma in rats.
Acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Whether the volume effect of the hematoma and increase of intracranial pressure (ICP) or the local effect of blood are responsible for this severe pathophysiology is unclear. Therefore, we compared subdural infusion of autologous blood and paraffin oil in a rat model of ASDH. ⋯ In the behavioral evaluation, paraffin-infused animals showed a better recovery, compared with the blood infusion group. In conclusion, comparable acute time-course of ICP, CPP, and CBF clearly indicates that the differences in lesion size, inflammatory reaction, and behavioral deficits after blood- and paraffin oil-induced ASDH are partially due to blood constituents. Therefore, current data suggest that subdural hematomas should be completely removed as quickly as possible; decompression alone may not be sufficient to prevent secondary brain damage.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Feb 2017
Neuropsychiatric symptom modeling in male and female C57BL/6J mice following experimental traumatic brain injury.
Psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety and depression are frequent and persistent complaints following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Modeling these symptoms in animal models of TBI affords the opportunity to determine mechanisms underlying behavioral pathologies and to test potential therapeutic agents. However, testing these symptoms in animal models of TBI has yielded inconsistent results. ⋯ Increased levels of activity were also measured in female mice and injured mice in these tests, and conclusions regarding anxiety should be taken with caution when experimental manipulations induce changes in baseline activity. These results underscore the irreconcilability of results from studies attempting to model TBI-induced neuropsychiatric symptoms. Changes in injury models or better attempts to replicate the clinical syndrome may improve the translational applicability of rodent models of TBI-induced anxiety and depression.
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Historical Article
Ayub Khan Ommaya (1930-2008): Legacy and Contributions to Neurosurgery.
Ayub Khan Ommaya (1930-2008) was a pioneering neurosurgeon of Pakistani origin who is widely known for inventing the Ommaya reservoir, a ventricular catheter with a mushroom-shaped dome for administration of intraventricular therapies. As a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, Ommaya developed an early interest in studying traumatic brain injury. ⋯ His work on traumatic brain injury led to the creation of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, a center for injury prevention research at the Center for Disease Control. This historical paper visits Ommaya's life story and recounts his key contributions to neurosurgery.
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A subset of surgically treated patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) cannot be stabilized by initial surgery. Mobile computed tomography (CT) provides real-time information for diagnosis in these TBI surgically high-risk (TBI-SHR) patients. The objective of this study was to analyze a 5-year series of TBI-SHR patients to evaluate the impact of intraoperative mobile CT (imCT) on prognosis. ⋯ The use of imCT is associated with better neurologic outcomes at discharge days compared with the use of fixed-unit CT in TBI-SHR patients.
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Minor head trauma is common in children. Although most cases are nonsignificant, minor head trauma can lead to preventable intracranial injuries. The aim of this study was to identify clinical predictors of intracranial injuries in infants with minor head trauma. ⋯ Fall height and size and location of scalp hematoma were associated with intracranial injuries. These factors should be considered when making decisions on radiologic examinations of infants with minor head trauma.