Weak, but Complex Pulsed Magnetic Fields May Reduce Depression following Traumatic Brain Injury

1996 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Baker-Price ◽  
M. A. Persinger

Many patients who display psychological depression following a traumatic brain injury do not respond completely to antidepressant drugs. We hypothesized that this type of depression is strongly correlated with subclinical, complex partial seizure-activity within the hippocampal-amygdaloid region that continues for months to years after apparent neurological and behavioral “recovery.” Four depressed patients who had sustained traumatic brain injuries and who exhibited mild to moderate brain impairment according to standardized tests received 30 min. of weak (1 μT) burst-firing magnetic fields across the temporal lobes once per week for 5 weeks. There was a significant improvement of depression and reduction of phobias while physical symptoms and other complaints were not changed.

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan D. Zasler ◽  
Michael F. Martelli

Abstract Mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) accounts for approximately 80% of the estimated 373000 traumatic brain injuries that occur annually in the United States. MTBI typically occurs in males 15 to 24 years of age, and postconcussional sequelae may impede physical, emotional, social, marital, vocational, and avocational functioning. Usually the severity of the initial neurologic injury is defined according to the Glasgow Coma Score, the presence and duration of amnesia (retrograde and anterograde), and the alteration of loss of consciousness and its duration. MTBI is a traumatically induced physiological disruption of cerebral function manifested by at least one of the following: loss of consciousness no longer than 20 minutes; any loss of memory; any alteration in mental status at the time of the accident; physical symptoms that potentially are related to the brain; and development of posttraumatic cognitive deficits not accounted for by emotional factors. When a patient presents with multisystem trauma, impairments may involve several parts of the body, including the nervous system. Individual impairments of other systems should be calculated separately and their whole person values combined using the Combined Values Chart in AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. At present, no ideal system can rate impairment following MTBI, and physicians must thoroughly understand both the underlying disease process and the associated injuries.


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


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 [...]


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


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. e241929
Author(s):  
Daniel Krasna ◽  
Erica Montgomery ◽  
Jacob Koffer ◽  
Miriam Segal

A functionally independent man in his 20s with a history of intellectual disability and epilepsy and family history of Huntington’s disease suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. Postinjury, bilateral chorea rendered him dependent for all activities of daily living. Risperidone provided a significant reduction of chorea, decreasing the overall burden of care. Movement disorders are a common sequela of brain injury. Currently, there are no best treatment guidelines for chorea in patients with brain injury. To the authors’ knowledge there have been no case reports describing the effects of brain injury on patients with a primary movement disorder. Risperidone was an effective treatment in this case. Further research is needed to establish guidelines for treatment of movement disorders following brain injury and to better understand the effect of brain injuries on primary movement disorders.


2002 ◽  
Vol 181 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-347 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard F. Mollica ◽  
David C. Henderson ◽  
Svang Tor

BackgroundThe prevalence of brain injury and its effects in populations exposed to war violence has not been studied in recent years.AimsTo examine the association between traumatic brain injury events and psychiatric symptoms of major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in Cambodian survivors of mass violence.MethodThe population comprised a multi-stage random sample of Cambodian refugees livingin a Thai refugee camp. The main results analysed the relationship between six categories of trauma events and psychiatric symptoms of depression and PTSD during two time periods.ResultsAlmost 15 000 trauma events were reported (n=13481, Pol Pot period; n=1249, past year). Traumatic brain injury was most common in the highly educated and in individuals with the highest levels of cumulative trauma. Of all trauma categories, traumatic brain injury revealed the strongest association with symptoms of depression, and a weaker association with PTSD. Brain injury represented 4% of the total number of traumatic events for both time periods, contributing 20% of the total symptom score for depression and 8% of that for PTSD.ConclusionsClinical identification and treatment of traumatic brain injuries in highly traumatised populations must be maintained in order to develop a new public health model for their treatment.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahra Kim ◽  
Alyssa Currao ◽  
Jennifer R. Fonda ◽  
Brigitta Beck ◽  
Alexandra Kenna ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Since 2006, efforts have been made to increase the identification of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in post-9/11 military personnel. The BAT-L is the first validated instrument to diagnose TBIs throughout the lifespan in post-9/11 Veterans. The objective is to investigate the correspondence of the Boston Assessment of TBI-Lifetime (BAT-L) diagnostic prevalence and injury severity of traumatic brain injury with in-theater medical records from Department of Defense (DoD). Methods: A convenience sample of 153 Veterans deployed in 2011 enrolled in the TRACTS longitudinal cohort study was examined. Retrospective review of DoD online medical records to determine diagnostic prevalence and injury severity for all head injury cases during deployment were compared with diagnostic prevalence and injury severity from the BAT-L clinical interview using Chi-square analyses.Results: There was moderate correspondence for TBI diagnosis between the BAT-L and DoD records (κ = 0.42). Sensitivity was 72.7% and specificity was 82.8%. Comparison of injury severity also had moderate correspondence (κ = 0.41). Missing TBI diagnostic data from DoD records was frequent; 43% percent of TBIs reported on the BAT-L did not have any documentation of mTBI assessment or diagnosis in DoD records while 83% did not have in-theater documentation.Conclusions: Diagnosis of TBI via the BAT-L retrospective interview was both sensitive and specific when compared to DoD medical records. However, diagnostic correspondence was only moderate. This lack of diagnostic agreement was related to multiple factors including lack of documentation of injury, differences in assessment tools and goals, and other combat-related motivational factors associated with failure to report injuries while deployed. Several policies were implemented to address underreporting and under-documentation of TBI, yet challenges remain. Findings suggest changes at both individual-level (e.g. service members) and system-level (e.g. DoD/military branches) are needed to adequately diagnose and document all TBI during deployment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason H. Boulter ◽  
Margaret M. Shields ◽  
Melissa R. Meister ◽  
Gregory Murtha ◽  
Brian P. Curry ◽  
...  

Traumatic brain injury is a rapidly increasing source of morbidity and mortality across the world. As such, the evaluation and management of traumatic brain injuries ranging from mild to severe are under active investigation. Over the last two decades, quantitative pupillometry has been increasingly found to be useful in both the immediate evaluation and ongoing management of traumatic brain injured patients. Given these findings and the portability and ease of use of modern pupillometers, further adoption and deployment of quantitative pupillometers into the preclinical and hospital settings of both resource rich and medically austere environments.


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