Articles: brain-injuries.
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Impairment of cognitive abilities is a frequent and significant sequelae of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The purpose of this experiment was to examine the generality of the cognitive deficits observed after TBI. The performance of three tasks was evaluated. ⋯ On days 11-15 following injury, injured (n = 9) and sham-injured (n = 8) rats were trained on a constant-start version of the Morris water maze that has the animals begin the maze from a fixed start position on each trial. Additional injured (n = 8) and sham-injured (n = 8) animals were trained on days 11-15 after injury on the standard (i.e. using variable start positions) version of the Morris water maze. The results of this experiment revealed that performance of the passive avoidance and the constant-start version of the Morris water maze were not impaired by fluid percussion TBI.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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We prospectively and retrospectively reviewed a series of 780 patients who presented to the University of Southern California/Los Angeles County Medical Center with a diagnosis of gunshot wound to the brain during an 8-year period. Of these, 105 were children ranging in age from 6 months to 17 years. Injuries were gang related in 76 (72%) children and adolescents. ⋯ The Department of Neurological Surgery is becoming directly involved in providing information to children at the junior high school level regarding gang activity and brain and spinal cord injury. In conjunction with the Community Youth Gang Services Organization and Think First Organization, we are attempting to integrate prevention through education and community mobilization. This is a plan aimed at informing and recovering the youth affected by gangs.
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Comparative Study
Intracranial pressure monitoring in children: comparison of external ventricular device with the fiberoptic system.
Several intracranial pressure monitoring devices have been developed in the past several years. We have recently adopted the Camino fiberoptic device that permits subdural, intraparenchymal, and intraventricular monitoring. In this report we compare experiences in monitoring a group of pediatric patients with severe craniocerebral trauma and coma, grouped according to severity of Glasgow Coma Scale score. ⋯ The study demonstrated that the fiberoptic device and the ventricular catheter have the same accuracy and reliability. The fiberoptic method correlates very closely with the ventriculostomy method, but the pressure values are always 3 +/- 2 mmHg lower than those obtained with the conventional pressure transducer system, especially in more critically ill patients. This new technique is also easier to implant, safer to use, has minimal drift, and is minimally invasive, which particularly speaks for its use in pediatric patients.