Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

Treatment with ACD patients will be carried out through the application of aquatic therapies, being the Halliwick Concept and the Watsu Method together with a time of immersion in hot water.

This is a prospective, randomized, two-arm, controlled 30-day investigational pilot trial using the gammaCore Sapphire S non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) device + standard of care (SOC) in newly-hospitalized patients with mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) to prevent the progression towards immunokine storms, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), severe respiratory distress, and requirement for invasive mechanical ventilation, and death, when compared to SOC alone (the control arm).

Impaired gastrointestinal transit (IGT) especially constipation, is common among patients under mechanical ventilation, occurring in up to 80 % of the patients during the first week, and has been associated with worse outcome in intensive care unit (ICU). Although IGT in critically ill patients is multifactorial and some components are due to complex disease, there is increasing evidence that exogenous opioids contribute to bowel dysmotility. Sedatives and especially opioids are largely used in the brain injured population to control intracranial pression, reduce metabolic rate, manage or prevent seizures, and improve mechanical ventilator synchrony. Therefore, brain injured patients are particularly at risk to develop IGT. The occurrence of IGT is associated with adverse outcomes in intensive care unit. Both gastric reflux and impaired peristaltic contractions are associated with ventilator-acquired pneumonia. The actual challenge is to prevent motility disorders before it occurs. A preventive strategy could in turn reduce the occurrence of complications related to impaired gastrointestinal transit such as ventilator-acquired pneumonia, bacteremia etc. It could also reduce the complications of feed intolerance and thus reduce morbidity and mortality in ICU. Naloxegol is a polyethylene glycol derivative of naloxol, which is a derivative of naloxone and a peripherally acting µ-opioid receptor antagonist. Contrary to naloxone, naloxegol has a very low penetration into the central nervous system, therefore it could be a relevant option for ileus prevention without the risk of impaired sedation. The aim of our study is to assess the efficacy of the administration of naloxegol on the onset of early constipation and early ventilator-acquired pneumonia in brain injured patients receiving opioids for analgosedation.

This study will develop and validate a new ED discharge educational video that provides positive assurance about mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) recovery for patients with mTBI.

Forensic patients often display cognitive deficits, particularly in the domain of executive functions, that represent a challenge to forensic rehabilitation. One empirically-validated method to train executive functions is cognitive remediation, which consists of cognitive exercises combined with coaching. This trial investigates whether cognitive remediation can improve cognitive, functional, and clinical outcomes in forensic inpatients.

People with brain injury commonly experience difficulties with memory, concentration, attention and judgement, meaning that important everyday actions and tasks are not carried out or not completed, limiting the ability to live independently. Technology-based solutions, including smartphone applications, can help by providing prompts about intended actions at the correct time. However, memory and attention impairments mean people forget to set reminders or fail to set them accurately (e.g. setting the wrong time/date for events). Using co-design methods with prospective users, the investigators developed ApplTree, a smartphone reminding application with design features that can be personalised to individuals. ApplTree prompts reminder setting, supports reminder entry to improve accuracy, and delivers users with prompts at the appropriate times. A pilot randomised controlled trial will be conducted to provide crucial information to inform a future larger scale efficacy trial of ApplTree as an intervention to support memory in people with acquired brain injury.

Patients with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are at elevated risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Improvements in TBI treatment may mitigate this risk. Complex motor activities, which combine physical and cognitive demands, have been shown to have well established neurocognitive benefits. This study seeks to address the need for novel TBI interventions optimized for adults with history of TBI by determining the effectiveness of an immersive computer game designed to integrating complex cognitive-motor interventions.

This study will use technology to deliver effective treatment for cognitive problems associated with TBI to Veterans at home, which may result in improved daily functioning and increased access to health care for the growing population of aging Veterans with history of TBI. The successful completion of this project may also increase older Veterans' ability to participate in research through increased understanding of the effect of in-home research opportunities on recruitment and retention. Additionally, the evidence gathered from this study may be used in future research studying home-based cognitive rehabilitation treatments for Veterans using telehealth technology.

The study will examine the efficacy of high definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) and its influence on episodic memory in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and a history of Traumatic brain injury. Ten sessions of HD-tDCS to the dorsal anterior cingulate region is expected to result in improvements in episodic memory measures immediately following the last session and at a 3-month follow-up.

The EPO-TRAUMA study is a prospective, multi-centre, double-blind, phase III, randomised controlled trial evaluating the efficacy of epoetin alfa compared to placebo in reducing mortality and severe disability at six months in critically ill trauma patients. 2500 mechanically ventilated ICU patients admitted with a primary trauma diagnosis presenting to the ICU will be recruited into the study from participating study centres in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and Saudi Arabia.