Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Health-care professionals and researchers have a legal and ethical responsibility to inform patients before carrying out diagnostic tests or treatment interventions as part of a clinical study. Interventional research in emergency situations can involve patients with some degree of acute cognitive impairment, as is regularly the case in traumatic brain injury and ischaemic stroke. These patients or their proxies are often unable to provide informed consent within narrow therapeutic time windows. ⋯ Currently accepted consent alternatives are deferred consent, exception from consent, or waiver of consent. However, these alternatives appear under-utilised despite being ethically permissible, socially acceptable, and regulatorily compliant. We anticipate that, when the requirements for medical urgency are properly balanced with legal and ethical conduct, the increased use of these alternatives has the potential to improve the efficiency and quality of future emergency interventional studies in patients with an inability to provide informed consent.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2020
Meta AnalysisNon-invasive techniques for multimodal monitoring in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): systematic review and meta-analysis.
Monitoring brain oxygenation and intracranial pressure non-invasively and continuously is of paramount importance in traumatic brain injury (TBI). The primary motivation of this study was to identify and provide robust evidence of the most effective techniques for the non-invasive multimodal monitoring for traumatic brain injury. Two reviewers independently searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science between January 15, 2010, and January 22, 2020. ⋯ A meta-analysis on non-invasive ICP monitoring revealed a strong pooled correlation coefficient of 0.725 (95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.450-0.874; I2 91.31%) between transcranial Doppler and the gold standard ICP monitoring. The current meta-analysis has shown that the two most prominent and widely used technologies for non-invasive monitoring in TBI are near-infrared spectroscopy and transcranial Doppler. Both techniques could be considered for the future development of a single non-invasive and continuous multimodal monitoring device for TBI.
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This study aimed to establish the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) for the Fugl-Meyer Motor Scale (FMMS) and the Disability Rating Scale (DRS) to evaluate interventions in patients with motor deficits in the chronic phase after traumatic brain injury (TBI). ⋯ This study is the first to establish MCIDs for the FMMS and the DRS in the chronic phase after TBI. The results may be helpful for the design and interpretation of clinical trials of interventions.
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J. Thromb. Haemost. · Dec 2020
ReviewDiverse activities of von Willebrand factor in traumatic brain injury and associated coagulopathy.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability. Patients with isolated TBI lose a limited amount of blood to primary injury, but they often develop secondary coagulopathy, resulting in delayed or recurrent intracranial and intracerebral hematoma. TBI-induced coagulopathy is closely associated with poor outcomes for these patients, including death. ⋯ A key question is how a localized injury to the brain is rapidly disseminated to affect systemic hemostasis that is not directly affected the way it is in trauma to the body and limbs, especially with hemorrhagic shock. Increasing evidence suggests that the adhesive ligand von Willebrand factor (VWF), which is synthesized in and released from endothelial cells, plays a paradoxical role in both facilitating local hemostasis at the site of injury and also propagating TBI-induced endotheliopathy and coagulopathy systemically. This review discusses recent progress in understanding these diverse activities of VWF and the knowledge gaps in defining their roles in TBI and associated coagulopathy.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Dec 2020
ReviewBeyond binary: the influence of sex and gender on outcome after traumatic brain injury.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of individuals each year and is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. TBI is heterogeneous and outcome is influenced by a combination of factors that include injury location, severity, genetics, and environmental factors. More recently, sex as a biological variable has been incorporated into TBI research, although there is conflicting literature regarding clinical outcomes in males versus females after TBI. ⋯ Social constructs regarding gender impact an individual's vulnerability to violence and consequent TBI, including the successful reintegration to society after TBI. We call for incorporation of gender beyond the binary in TBI education, research, and clinical care. Precision medicine necessarily must progress beyond the binary to treat individuals after TBI.