Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Brain Imaging Behav · Sep 2015
ReviewAdvanced neuroimaging applied to veterans and service personnel with traumatic brain injury: state of the art and potential benefits.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains one of the most prevalent forms of morbidity among Veterans and Service Members, particularly for those engaged in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Neuroimaging has been considered a potentially useful diagnostic and prognostic tool across the spectrum of TBI generally, but may have particular importance in military populations where the diagnosis of mild TBI is particularly challenging, given the frequent lack of documentation on the nature of the injuries and mixed etiologies, and highly comorbid with other disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and substance misuse. ⋯ The importance of quality assurance testing in current and future research is also highlighted. Current challenges and limitations of each technique are outlined, and future directions are discussed.
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Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in an estimated 1.7 million emergency department visits each year in the United States. These injuries frequently occur outside, leaving injured individuals exposed to environmental temperature extremes before they are transported to a hospital. ⋯ Hospital data suggest that EBTs are associated with poor outcomes, and some preliminary reports suggest that early EBTs are common after TBI in the prehospital setting. However, it remains unclear whether patients with TBI have an increased risk of EBTs after exposure to high environmental temperatures, or if this very early "hyperthermia" might cause secondary injury after TBI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Sep 2015
Serum SNTF Increases in Concussed Professional Ice Hockey Players and Relates to the Severity of Post-Concussion Symptoms.
Biomarkers for diffuse axonal injury could have utilities for the acute diagnosis and clinical care of concussion, including those related to sports. The calpain-derived αII-spectrin N-terminal fragment (SNTF) accumulates in axons after traumatic injury and increases in human blood after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in relation to white matter abnormalities and persistent cognitive dysfunction. However, SNTF has never been evaluated as a biomarker for sports-related concussion. ⋯ Serum SNTF exhibited diagnostic accuracy for concussion, especially so with delayed return to play (area under the curve=0.87). Multi-variate analyses of serum SNTF and tau improved the diagnostic accuracy, the relationship with the delay in return to play, and the temporal window beyond tau alone. These results provide evidence that blood SNTF, a biomarker for axonal injury after mTBI, may be useful for diagnosis and prognosis of sports-related concussion, as well as for guiding neurobiologically informed decisions on return to play.
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Observational Study
Aggressive operative treatment of isolated blunt traumatic brain injury in the elderly is associated with favourable outcome.
Outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the elderly has not been fully elucidated. The present retrospective observational study investigates the age-dependent outcome of patients suffering from severe isolated TBI with regard to operative and non-operative treatment. Data were prospectively collected in the TraumaRegister DGU. ⋯ Results of this retrospective observational study have to be interpreted cautiously. However, good outcome after TBI with severe space-occupying haemorrhage is more frequent in patients with operative treatment across all age groups. Age alone should not be the reason for limited care or denial of operative intervention.
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Since the introduction of helmets in winter sports there is on-going debate on whether they decrease traumatic brain injuries (TBI). ⋯ Despite increased helmet use we found no decrease in TBI among snowboarders. The possibility of TBI despite helmet use and the dangers of riding off-piste should be a focus of future prevention programs.