An Overview of the Attention Improvement Management (AIM) Program With Outcomes for Three Pilot Participants

Author(s):  
Jaime Lee ◽  
Beth Harn ◽  
McKay Moore Sohlberg ◽  
Shari L. Wade

Direct attention training (DAT) and metacognitive strategy instruction have been employed to treat the cognitive deficits associated with traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and are supported by an emerging evidence base (e.g., Butler et al., 2008; Galbiati et al., 2009; Luton, Reed-Knight, Loiselle, O’Toole, & Blount, 2011; van’t Hooft et al., 2007). The importance of treatment intensity is well established for DAT (Sohlberg et al., 2003), yet restrictions in the delivery and funding of rehabilitation services, the availability of well-trained interventionists, and access by geographic locale remain critical barriers to the provision of intensive services. Computer-delivered treatments that incorporate a home practice component address the gulf between the intensive, daily practice suggested by the efficacy research and these clinical delivery constraints. The purpose of this paper is to (a) review the literature evaluating the integration of DAT and metacognitive facilitation to treat children and adolescents with traumatic brain injury (TBI); (b) present the rationale and description of a computerized program, Attention Improvement Management (AIM); (c) detail the program components; and (d) present outcome data from three pilot participants who completed the intervention. A specific and growing subset of children with TBI have attention impairments following mild brain injuries or concussions (Schatz & Scolaro Moser, 2011) and served as the pilot participants in this study. Pilot participants demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements on attention outcome measures and generalization of the metacognitive strategies trained within the program to contexts outside of therapy, including both academic and social settings. Though initial results are promising, further research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of the AIM intervention to treat the attention and executive function impairments associated with pediatric TBI.

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Wang ◽  
Mingwei Sun ◽  
Hua Jiang ◽  
Xiao-ping Cao ◽  
Jun Zeng

Abstract Background We aimed to systematically review the efficacy of mannitol (MTL) on patients with acute severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods Databases such as PubMed (US National Library of Medicine), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2014, Issue 3), ISI (Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded), Chinese Biomedicine Database (CBM), and China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (CNKI) have been searched for relevant studies published between 1 January 2003 and 1 October 2014. We have established inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify RCTs, which were suitable to be enrolled in the systematic review. The comparison group could be hypertonic saline (HS), hydroxyethyl starch, or others. The quality assessment was based on the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.0.1 and modified Jadad score scale. The major outcome was mortality, followed by the secondary outcomes such as neurological outcome, days on intensive care unit (ICU), and ventilator day. In addition, intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were used as the surrogate endpoints. Data synthesis and meta-analysis was conducted by using R (version 3.7-0.). Results When 176 potential relevant literatures and abstracts have been screened, four RCTs met all the inclusion criteria and were enrolled for the meta-analysis. Amongst all the enrolled studies, two trials have provided the primary outcome data. There was no heterogeneity between two studies (I2 = 0 %) and a fixed model was used for meta-analysis (n = 53), pooled result indicated that the mortality was similar in mannitol intervention and control treatment, OR = 0.80, 95 % CI [0.27, 2.37], P = 0.38. We found that both mannitol and HS were efficient in decreasing the ICP. Furthermore, the effect of the HS on the ICP appeared to be more effective in the patients with diffuse brain injuries than mannitol did. Conclusions As a conclusion, the mannitol therapy cannot reduce the mortality risk of acute severe traumatic brain injury. Current evidence does not support the mannitol as an effective treatment of acute severe traumatic brain injury. The well-designed randomized controlled trials are in urgent need to demonstrate the adoption of mannitol to acute severe traumatic brain injury.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 815-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Garosi ◽  
Sophie Adamantos

Practical relevance Feline trauma patients are commonly seen in general practice and frequently have sustained some degree of brain injury. Clinical challenges Cats with traumatic brain injuries may have a variety of clinical signs, ranging from minor neurological deficits to life-threatening neurological impairment. Appropriate management depends on prompt and accurate patient assessment, and an understanding of the pathophysiology of brain injury. The most important consideration in managing these patients is maintenance of cerebral perfusion and oxygenation. For cats with severe head injury requiring decompressive surgery, early intervention is critical. Evidence base There is a limited clinical evidence base to support the treatment of traumatic brain injury in cats, despite its relative frequency in general practice. Appropriate therapy is, therefore, controversial in veterinary medicine and mostly based on experimental studies or human head trauma studies. This review, which sets out to describe the specific approach to diagnosis and management of traumatic brain injury in cats, draws on the current evidence, as far as it exists, as well as the authors' clinical experience.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-74
Author(s):  
Rustam Hazratkulov ◽  

Multiple traumatic hematomas (MG) account for 0.74% of all traumatic brain injuries. A comprehensive diagnostic approach to multiple traumatic intracranial hematomas allows to establish a diagnosis in the early stages of traumatic brain injury and to determine treatment tactics. A differentiated approach to the choice of surgical treatment of multiple hematomas allows to achieve satisfactory results and treatment outcomes, which accordingly contributes to the early activation of the patient, a reduction in hospital stay, a decrease in mortality and disabilityin patients with traumatic brain injury


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-86
Author(s):  
Era D. Mikkonen ◽  
Markus B. Skrifvars ◽  
Matti Reinikainen ◽  
Stepani Bendel ◽  
Ruut Laitio ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVETraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability in the pediatric population. The authors assessed 1-year costs of intensive care in pediatric TBI patients.METHODSIn this retrospective multicenter cohort study of four academic ICUs in Finland, the authors used the Finnish Intensive Care Consortium database to identify children aged 0–17 years treated for TBI in ICUs between 2003 and 2013. The authors reviewed all patient health records and head CT scans for admission, treatment, and follow-up data. Patient outcomes included functional outcome (favorable outcome defined as a Glasgow Outcome Scale score of 4–5) and death within 6 months. Costs included those for the index hospitalization, rehabilitation, and social security up to 1 year after injury. To assess costs, the authors calculated the effective cost per favorable outcome (ECPFO).RESULTSIn total, 293 patients were included, of whom 61% had moderate to severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Scale [GCS] score 3–12) and 40% were ≥ 13 years of age. Of all patients, 82% had a favorable outcome and 9% died within 6 months of injury. The mean cost per patient was €48,719 ($54,557) (95% CI €41,326–€56,112). The index hospitalization accounted for 66%, rehabilitation costs for 27%, and social security costs for 7% of total healthcare costs. The ECPFO was €59,727 ($66,884) (95% CI €52,335–€67,120). A higher ECPFO was observed among patients with clinical and treatment-related variables indicative of parenchymal swelling and high intracranial pressure. Lower ECPFO was observed among patients with higher admission GCS scores and those who had epidural hematomas.CONCLUSIONSGreater injury severity increases ECPFO and is associated with higher postdischarge costs in pediatric TBI patients. In this pediatric cohort, over two-thirds of all resources were spent on patients with favorable functional outcome, indicating appropriate resource allocation.


Author(s):  
Grace B. McKee ◽  
Laiene Olabarrieta-Landa ◽  
Paula K. Pérez-Delgadillo ◽  
Ricardo Valdivia-Tangarife ◽  
Teresita Villaseñor-Cabrera ◽  
...  

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a serious public health concern. Family members are often caregivers for children with TBI, which can result in a significant strain on familial relationships. Research is needed to examine aspects of family functioning in the context of recovery post-TBI, especially in Latin America, where cultural norms may reinforce caregiving by family members, but where resources for these caregivers may be scarce. This study examined caregiver-reported family satisfaction, communication, cohesion, and flexibility at three time points in the year post-injury for 46 families of a child with TBI in comparison to healthy control families. Families experiencing pediatric TBI were recruited from a large hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico, while healthy controls were recruited from a local educational center. Results from multilevel growth curve models demonstrated that caregivers of children with a TBI reported significantly worse family functioning than controls at each assessment. Families experiencing pediatric TBI were unable to attain the level of functioning of controls during the time span studied, suggesting that these families are likely to experience long-term disruptions in family functioning. The current study highlights the need for family-level intervention programs to target functioning for families affected by pediatric TBI who are at risk for difficulties within a rehabilitation context.


2020 ◽  
pp. 000313482097335
Author(s):  
Isaac W. Howley ◽  
Jonathan D. Bennett ◽  
Deborah M. Stein

Moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a major cause of severe morbidity and mortality; rapid diagnosis and management allow secondary injury to be minimized. Traumatic brain injury is only one of many potential causes of altered mental status; head computed tomography (HCT) is used to definitively diagnose TBI. Despite its widespread use and obvious importance, interpretation of HCT images is rarely covered by formal didactics during general surgery or even acute care surgery training. The schema illustrated here may be applied in a rapid and reliable fashion to HCT images, expediting the diagnosis of clinically significant traumatic brain injury that warrants emergent medical and surgical therapies to reduce intracranial pressure. It consists of 7 normal anatomic structures (cerebrospinal fluid around the brain stem, open fourth ventricle, “baby’s butt,” “Mickey Mouse ears,” absence of midline shift, sulci and gyri, and gray-white differentiation). These 7 features can be seen even as the CT scanner obtains images, allowing the trauma team to expedite medical management of intracranial hypertension and pursue neurosurgical consultation prior to radiologic interpretation if the features are abnormal.


Author(s):  
Yu-Chin Tsai ◽  
Shao-Chun Wu ◽  
Ting-Min Hsieh ◽  
Hang-Tsung Liu ◽  
Chun-Ying Huang ◽  
...  

Thank you for Eduardo Mekitarian Filho’s appreciation of our work on the study of stress-induced hyperglycemia (SIH) and diabetic hyperglycemia (DH) in patients with traumatic brain injuries [...]


Author(s):  
Alan D. Kaplan ◽  
Qi Cheng ◽  
Kadri Aditya Mohan ◽  
Lindsay D. Nelson ◽  
Sonia Jain ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-66
Author(s):  
Bal G Karmacharya ◽  
Brijesh Sathian

The objective of this study was to review the demographics, causes injury, severity, treatment and outcome of traumatic brain injuries in victims of the April 2015 earthquake who were admitted in Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara. A total of 37 patients was admitted under Neurosurgery Services. Collapse of buildings was the commonest cause of head injury. The majority of them had mild head injury. Associated injuries to other parts of the body were present in 40.54% patients.Nepal Journal of Neuroscience 12:63-66, 2015


2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Skye McDonald ◽  
Vicki Anderson ◽  
Jennie Ponsford ◽  
Robyn Tate ◽  
Leanne Togher ◽  
...  

Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of brain injury in the Western world and leads to physical, cognitive and emotional deficits that reduce independence. Changes to psychosocial function are the most disruptive, resulting in vocational difficulties, family stress and deteriorating relationships, and are a major target for remediation. But rehabilitation is expensive and its evidence base is limited. Thus, new collaborative initiatives are needed. This article details the development of ‘Moving Ahead’, a model for a Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) for Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation. This CRE offers several major innovations. First, it provides an integrated, multi-faceted approach to addressing psychosocial difficulties embracing different clinical standpoints (e.g., psychological, speech pathology, occupational therapy) and levels of investigation (e.g., basic science to community function) across the lifespan. It is based upon a close relationship with clinicians to ensure transfer of research to practice and, conversely, to ensure that research is clinically meaningful. It provides an integrated platform with which to support and train new researchers in the field via scholarships, postdoctoral fellowships, websites, meetings, mentoring and across-site training, and thus build workforce capacity for individuals with TBI and their families. It has input from the international community to contextualise research more broadly and ensure scientific rigour. Finally, it provides collaboration across sites to facilitate research and data collection.


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