Newsline — Thursday, January 3, 2013 13:00
Neurosurgical Publication Discusses Importance of Quality Improvement, Clinical Research, Patient Care
Researchers Use Imaging Study to Chronicle Second Impact Syndrome in High School Football Player
Thursday, January 3, 2013 8:00
In the January 2013 issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, physicians at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Northwest Radiology Network (Indianapolis) report on the case of a 17-year-old high school football player with second impact syndrome (SIS). A rare and devastating traumatic brain injury (TBI), SIS occurs when a person — most often a teenager —sustains a second head injury before recovery from an earlier head injury is complete. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first reported case in which imaging studies were performed after both injuries, adding new insight and knowledge about the event. Findings in this case are reported and discussed in “Second impact syndrome in football: new imaging and insights into a rare and devastating condition. Case report,” by Elizabeth Weinstein, MD, and colleagues. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Second Concussion Can Be Devastating, Even After Normal CT Scan
Wednesday, January 2, 2013 13:00
Student-athlete Cody Lehe still was having headaches from a concussion sustained several days earlier at a high school football game. But when his CT scan came back normal, the 17-year-old thought it was OK to play. Five days after the helmet-to-helmet collision that the Brookston, Ind., teen described as “the hardest I’ve been hit in my whole life,” he was back on the field practicing with his teammates. The Frontier High School Falcons were heading to the 2006 sectional finals and, as team captain, Lehe intended to be there. But in the fourth drill of the day, Lehe was hit and knocked to the ground. As he slowly pulled himself back onto his feet, he told a teammate that his head hurt, but he was OK. However, several plays later, Lehe dropped to one knee, dizzy, his legs numb. Then he collapsed, his body shaking with seizures. He was rushed to the emergency room, where doctors found that the pressure in his brain was dangerously high. They reduced the pressure, but the damage was already…
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Doctors Say Blood Clot Could Have Been Life-Threatening for Hillary Clinton
Wednesday, January 2, 2013 9:41
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s latest health update — cerebral venous thrombosis — is a rare and potentially “life-threatening” condition, say medical experts, but one from which the political leader is likely to recover. In an update from her doctors, Clinton’s brain scans revealed a clot that had formed in the right transverse venous sinus. She has been treated successfully with anticoagulants. “She is lucky being Hillary Clinton and had a follow-up MRI — lucky that her team thought to do it,” says Brian D. Greenwald, MD, medical director at JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Center for Head Injuries. “It could have potentially serious complications.” Dr. Greenwald adds that the backup of blood flow could have caused a stroke or hemorrhage. For more information, click here to read the full article.
Studies Examine Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury Causes, Characteristics, Trends in China
Friday, December 28, 2012 13:00
Two new studies by researchers from the International Program at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Wuhan Children’s Hospital in China examine pediatric traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) — of growing public health concern in China — that were treated at Wuhan Children’s Hospital from 2002 to 2011. The first study, which appears in the December 2012 print issue of PLOS ONE, investigated the causes, characteristics and trends of pediatric TBIs in China. It found that falls, struck by/against objects and traffic collisions were the top external causes of TBI. The study also discovered that approximately six percent of all TBIs among children under two years of age were caused by suspected child abuse. This is the first study to highlight the important role of suspected child abuse in causing TBIs among infants in China and has led to the second study, in the November 2012 issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, which examined abuse-related TBIs among children in China….
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UAB Study Investigates Racial Disparities in Stroke Patients
Friday, December 28, 2012 8:00
Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Public Health say a 10-mm difference in blood pressure is associated with an eight percent increase in stroke risk for white people, but a 24 percent increase in stroke risk for black people. UAB School of Public Health Department of Biostatistics Professor George Howard, DrPH, said these new findings — which recently appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine — mean primary care physicians should work closely with their black patients and urge them to take blood pressure medicine, as well as follow up with them to ensure those medications are effective in bringing blood pressure under control. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Gene Therapy Cocktail Shows Promise for Rare Fatal Brain Disorder
Thursday, December 27, 2012 13:00
Results of a clinical trial that began in 2001 show that a gene therapy cocktail conveyed into the brain by a molecular special delivery vehicle may help extend the lives of children with Canavan disease, a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disorder. A report of the trial appears in the Dec. 19, 2012, online edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine. The form of gene therapy was created and developed at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. The work was spearheaded by R. Jude Samulski, PhD, a study senior author, professor of pharmacology and director of UNC’s Gene Therapy Center. The treatment uses a virus (adeno-associated virus, or AAV) as a “viral vector” meticulously tailored to enter the brain and safely switch good genes for bad. For more information, click here to read the full release.
‘Heads Up, Don’t Duck,’ Say Mayo Clinic, USA Hockey to Youth Hockey Players
Thursday, December 27, 2012 8:00
As youth hockey players fly toward the boards, they almost instinctively duck their heads, which is exactly the wrong thing to do. According to experts, this fast-paced sport can be safer if players follow some simple advice. USA Hockey, the national governing body for the sport, worked with Mayo Clinic to release a video with animation demonstrating the dangers of players ducking their heads as they crash into the boards during play. A training program, titled “Heads Up, Don’t Duck,” teaches players to automatically choose the safest posture for impact. With more than a half-million U.S. children playing the sport, there is a renewed push to keep them from getting hurt. In collaboration with USA Hockey, the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center has been collecting catastrophic hockey injury data since 2008. Cervical spine fractures are the most prominent injury in the database, and the spine and head are the two most injured body parts. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Alzheimer’s Patients Without Spouses Are Less Represented in Clinical Trials
Wednesday, December 26, 2012 13:00
A new study suggests that people without a spouse are underrepresented in Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials when compared to people with spouses. The study appears in the Dec. 19, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. “Nationwide, half of all unpaid Alzheimer’s disease caregivers are under the age of 50 and as many as 68 percent are the children, children-in-law or grandchildren of these patients,” says study author Joshua D. Grill, PhD, assistant professor of Neurology at the UCLA Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “In contrast, in our analyses, 67 percent of the 2,041 Alzheimer’s clinical trial participants had a spouse as their study partner. We found that there were several differences between people with spouse and adult child study partners that could affect the results of the trials and interpretations of those results.” For more information, click here to read the full release.
Study Reveals Disconnect Between Surgeons, Patients About Life Support
Wednesday, December 26, 2012 8:00
Patients who wish to limit the amount of life support they receive after surgery might have a hard time finding a surgeon willing to do the procedure, reports a new study from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. In a nationwide survey of more than 900 vascular, cardiothoracic and neurological surgeons, 60 percent of respondents said they would either sometimes or always refuse to operate on a patient who explicitly stated a desire to limit life-supporting treatments for a life-threatening post-operative complication. Meanwhile, 62 percent said they would pre-operatively create an informal contract with patients outlining agreed-upon limits of aggressive post-operative treatments. The results of this survey appear in this month’s online edition of Critical Care Medicine. For more information, click here to read the full release.