Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries, Traumatic"

Donated red blood cells vary in how old they are, that is, how long they have been stored since being collected from donors. Blood that has been donated is stored for a maximum of 42 days, after this time it is expired. That means that red blood cells that are given to patients as a blood transfusion can be anywhere from a few days old to 42 days old. The average age of blood that is given as a blood transfusion in this hospital is 21 days old. As stored blood gets older its ability to carry oxygen may be reduced. Whether or not this is important in patients with a brain injury is not currently known. The purpose of this study is to try and determine if fresh blood (less than 5 days old) is better than old blood (greater than 20 days old) in improving the supply of oxygen in patients who have suffered an injury to their brain.

The administration of N-acetyl-cysteine (an anti-oxidant) for seven days along with observation will result in improved hearing and balance function in individuals who demonstrate these disorders after blast exposure when compared to a placebo medicine and observation at the seven day time point.

The investigators plan to utilize conivaptan (Vaprisol) to promote isolated water loss, in combination with normal (physiologic) fluid replacement to maintain a normal blood volume status, in patients with severe TBI. The goal of this therapy is to raise blood sodium in a controlled fashion in subjects with severe TBI, and reduce the use of hypertonic saline infusion. We hypothesize that this therapy will maintain a stable state of high blood sodium, while decreasing the overall sodium load needed to achieve these goals.

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of an Internet-based psychosocial treatment in improving problem-solving, communication skills, stress management strategies, and coping among teens who have had a traumatic brain injury and their families.

The purpose of this study is to learn if using the World Wide Web to train teens and their families in problem-solving, communication skills, and stress management strategies can help them to cope better following traumatic brain injury (TBI). To answer this question, we will look at changes from before the intervention to after the intervention on questionnaire measures of problem-solving skills, communication, social competence, adjustment, and family stress and burden. We hypothesize that families receiving the TOPS intervention will have better parent-child communication and problem-solving skills at follow-up than those receiving the IRC intervention. Additionally, families receiving the TOPS intervention will have lower levels of parental distress, fewer child behavior problems and better child functioning than those receiving the IRC intervention. Lastly, treatment effects will be moderated by SES and life stresses, such that families with greater social disadvantage will benefit more from the TOPS intervention.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the leading cause of acquired long term disability among children and young adults. Deficits in attention and memory are common and persist for years after moderate or severe TBI. The similarity between these symptoms and those of children with AD/HD, the efficacy of methylphenidate in the treatment of AD/HD, and the efficacy of methylphenidate in improving recovery of animals with brain injuries, support the need to study methylphenidate effects in children with TBI. This investigation of methylphenidate in children with moderate to severe TBI aims to: (1) Assess the acute effects of 2 different dosages of methylphenidate on attention and reaction time when the medication is administered to children early in recovery; (2) Assess the ability of 8 weeks of methylphenidate to improve the rate of recovery of cognitive, memory, and attentional skills in children with TBI; (3) Identify the frequency of common methylphenidate side effects in children with TBI.

This study evaluates the effect of optimizing trunk support based on segmental principles of trunk control, on academic engagement of children in academic settings.

Retrospective, single center, single arm PMCF study on the performance and safety of Lyoplant® used for the replacement and extension of connective tissue structures in neurosurgery.

This pilot study is designed to provide preliminary data for a large scale, randomized clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of remotely administrated at home transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) with real-time monitoring via VA Tele-health for persistent post traumatic headache associated with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Participants will receive total of 20 sessions of tDCS over four weeks. The investigators anticipate that the results generated from the study will directly translate into immediate meaningful clinical application: not only in management of chronic post traumatic headache, but also in reduction of acute pain medication use, and improving quality of life for our veterans with this debilitating neurological disorder.

The purpose of this project is to test the hypothesis that Speed of Information Processing (SIP) deficits in acquired brain injury (ABI) can be remediated. The majority of individuals with acquired brain injuries have speed of information processing deficits as part of the cognitive sequelae of the brain injury. Empirical research is expected to demonstrate the efficacy of computerized cognitive Speed of Information Processing (SIP) training in individuals with ABI. Study participants will be asked to attend two study visits over the course of approximately 13 weeks. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group.