Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Aug 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyAmantadine Effect on Perceptions of Irritability after Traumatic Brain Injury: Results of the Amantadine Irritability Multisite Study (AIMS).
This study examines the effect of amantadine on irritability in persons in the post-acute period after traumatic brain injury (TBI). There were 168 persons ≥6 months post-TBI with irritability who were enrolled in a parallel-group, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial receiving either amantadine 100 mg twice daily or equivalent placebo for 60 days. Subjects were assessed at baseline and days 28 (primary end-point) and 60 of treatment using observer-rated and participant-rated Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-I) Most Problematic item (primary outcome), NPI Most Aberrant item, and NPI-I Distress Scores, as well as physician-rated Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) scale. ⋯ While observers in both groups reported large improvements, significant group differences were not found for the primary outcome (observer ratings) at either day 28 or 60. This large placebo or nonspecific effect may have masked detection of a treatment effect. The result of this study of amantadine 100 mg every morning and noon to reduce irritability was not positive from the observer perspective, although there are indications of improvement at day 60 from the perspective of persons with TBI and clinicians that may warrant further investigation.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Aug 2015
Multicenter StudyAbnormal white matter BOLD signals in chronic mild traumatic brain injury.
Concussion, or mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), can cause persistent behavioral symptoms and cognitive impairment, but it is unclear if this condition is associated with detectable structural or functional brain changes. At two sites, chronic mTBI human subjects with persistent post-concussive symptoms (three months to five years after injury) and age- and education-matched healthy human control subjects underwent extensive neuropsychological and visual tracking eye movement tests. At one site, patients and controls also performed the visual tracking tasks while blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. ⋯ In contrast, BOLD signals were normal in cortical regions, such as the frontal eye field and intraparietal sulcus, that mediate oculomotor and attention functions necessary for visual tracking. The abnormal BOLD signals accurately differentiated chronic mTBI patients from healthy controls at the single-subject level, although they did not correlate with symptoms or neuropsychological performance. We conclude that subjects with persistent post-concussive symptoms can be identified years after their TBI using fMRI and an eye movement task despite showing normal structural MRI and DTI.