Head Trauma News and Research

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Head injury refers to trauma to the head. This may or may not include injury to the brain. However, the terms traumatic brain injury and head injury are often used interchangeably in the medical literature.

Study finds significant decline in CT usage at children's hospitals for common childhood diagnoses

A study published online Aug. 24 by the journal Pediatrics finds a significant decrease in the use of computed tomography (CT) scans at children's hospitals for 10 common childhood diagnoses including seizure, concussion, appendectomy and upper respiratory tract infection.

24 Aug 2015

Many children with sports-related head injuries undergo unnecessary CT scans

Visits to emergency departments by children with sports-related head injuries have skyrocketed in the past decade, and new research finds that many patients undergo unnecessary computed tomography or CT scans that expose them to radiation and increase the cost of treatment.

30 Jul 2015

New research may explain why youngsters' recovery times vary widely after traumatic brain injury

Why do some youngsters bounce back quickly from a traumatic brain injury, while others suffer devastating side effects for years? New UCLA/USC research suggests that damage to the fatty sheaths around the brain's nerve fibers--not injury severity-- may explain the difference. Published in the July 15 edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, the finding identifies possible biomarkers that physicians could use to predict higher-risk patients who require closer monitoring.

15 Jul 2015

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment effective for fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is almost impossible to diagnose. The chronic pain syndrome strikes an estimated 1 in 70 Americans, most of them women. The disorder is often triggered by head trauma, a neurological infection, or severe emotional stress, and is characterized by symptoms such as musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, memory loss and mood swings. Fibromyalgia is often mistaken for other culprits and most patients suffer months, even years, of unrelenting pain before being properly diagnosed. And once diagnosed, patients enjoy little respite because few therapies have been found to be effective in assuaging its symptoms.

15 Jul 2015

Study: Brain activity changes after memory retraining in TBI patients

Kessler Foundation researchers published results of their TBI-MEM trial, the first study to demonstrate significant changes in cerebral activation after memory retraining in individuals with traumatic brain injury.

9 Jul 2015

Young children who receive surgical anesthesia have diminished brain function

Children who received general anesthesia for surgery before age 4 had diminished language comprehension, lower IQ and decreased gray matter density in posterior regions of their brain, according to a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

8 Jun 2015

Repetitive head injuries may accelerate aging process, increase dementia risk

Repetitive head injuries that occur during contact sports and military service may accelerate the aging process by increasing the build-up of beta-amyloid in the brain, leading to worse disease and an increased likelihood of developing dementia. In particular, boxers fared the worst among athletes and military veterans with a history of head injuries.

13 May 2015

Special JHTR issue highlights ongoing CDC efforts to reduce population impact of TBI

Ongoing efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reduce the population impact of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are documented in the May/June issue of The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America.

12 May 2015

WHO sends additional medical supplies, health workers into earthquake-affected region in Nepal

WHO is surging additional medical supplies and health workers into the earthquake-affected region to help the Government of Nepal provide rapid medical assistance to the thousands who have been injured in Saturday's disaster.

28 Apr 2015

Stem cell treatment repairs birth defect, provides facial regeneration for people suffering traumatic injury

Researchers have pinpointed a primary cause of a rare skull disorder in infants, and the discovery could help wounded soldiers, car-wreck victims and other patients recover from disfiguring facial injuries.

23 Apr 2015

New study shows initial promise for treatment that may reduce dementia after TBI

It was once thought that effects of a mild head injury -- dizziness, headaches, memory problems -- were only temporary, and the brain would heal over time. However, while the long-term consequences of head trauma are not fully known, growing evidence suggests that even a mild head injury can increase the risk for later-in-life development of dementias such as Alzheimer's disease.

23 Apr 2015

Daniel Newman wins first place in Nikon's 'I Am Next' contest

With the goal of educating the public about the dangers of sports-related concussion and the debilitating migraine attacks that often result, Daniel Newman of Katonah, New York has won first place in Nikon Inc.'s "I Am Next" contest, with a dramatic photo of his brother Eric, who has experienced the after-effects of sports-related concussions.

22 Apr 2015

Investigators define prevalence, associated factors for vasospasm in children with brain injuries

Vasospasm, or severe narrowing of blood vessels, is a dangerous complication observed in children with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. In a paper recently published in Critical Care Medicine, investigators at Nationwide Children's Hospital have further defined the prevalence, associated factors and time course for vasospasm in children with these brain injuries.

25 Feb 2015

Righttime Medical Care outlines common health concerns linked to cold temperatures

Righttime Medical Care, a leading urgent care provider, has been seeing an increase in injuries related to the record-breaking East coast cold weather and offers advice on keeping safe.

23 Feb 2015

New eye-tracking device measures severity of concussion and brain injury

New research out of NYU Langone Medical Center could move the medical community one step closer toward effectively detecting concussion and quantifying its severity.

29 Jan 2015

US Special Forces funding breakthrough drug therapy for treating wounded soldiers

US Special Forces are funding a world first, breakthrough drug therapy for treating battle casualties that's being developed by James Cook University scientists in Australia.

27 Nov 2014

New findings may help develo injury-prevention measures

This week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine features an article that highlights an unprecedented analysis of the nation's childhood head injuries. The study, authored by

14 Nov 2014

Study offers unprecedented picture of how children frequently suffer head injuries

A study in which more than 43,000 children were evaluated for head trauma offers an unprecedented picture of how children most frequently suffer head injuries, report physicians at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of California, Davis, School of Medicine.

13 Nov 2014

More research needed to prevent brains of sportspeople from injury

Two University of Birmingham academics are calling for more research to be carried out looking at how the brains of sportspeople - including children - react when they receive a blow to the head.

11 Sep 2014

More accurate tests could be created to diagnose memory problems

UEA research finds hope for more accurate diagnosis of memory problems. More accurate tests could be created to diagnose diseases such as Alzheimer's or memory problems stemming from head injuries, leading to earlier intervention, according to new findings from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

30 Jul 2014