Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

This pilot clinical trial study will assess the inflammatory response of brain tumors or other central nervous system conditions in pediatric and adult patients using ferumoxytol-enhanced MRI. Imaging features will be correlated with the number of inflammatory cells (macrophages) at histopathology. Determining the extent of inflammation associated with pathologies in the central nervous system may be helpful for diagnostic and prognostic purposes as well as monitoring treatment response of current and future immunotherapies.

The purpose of the proposed project is to determine if the VOMS is an effective screening tool to identify and track recovery of vestibular and ocular motor impairment and symptoms following mTBI, that corpsman-level medical personnel can successfully implement in combat and non-combat environments. A second purpose of the project is to determine if impairment and symptoms on the VOMS is more pronounced following blast compared to blunt mTBI.

Over the last 30 years the survival rates for babies born prematurely have improved greatly with research. As these babies grow up, we have found that many of the premature babies have learning and movement problems. The purpose of this research is to learn why premature infants are at risk for learning disabilities and movement problems later in childhood and whether this is changed by caffeine therapy. Caffeine is often used in premature babies to help them to breathe on their own. Nearly all babies born before 30 weeks gestation receive caffeine while they are in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Scientists have shown that caffeine therapy given to premature babies reduces their disabilities. We will use brain monitoring, including electro-encephalogram (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to understand how the brain of a premature baby develops and whether caffeine in high doses enhances protection of the developing brain. Just as we monitor the heart and lungs to improve our care of premature babies, we wish to monitor the brain so that we can understand how to improve our care for the brain.

The purpose of this study is to determine the possible effects of an anesthetic agent called Ketamine on the injured brain in children. The researchers think that it will effect the outcomes of children with these injuries.

To establish the effects of genotropin replacement in patients with severe growth hormone deficiency after traumatic brain injury on cognitive function.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between the length of ICU stay and a newly developed FIVE score in neuro-intensive care patients. The secondary objectives are to evaluate the impact of the FIVE score on hospital length of stay, Modified Rankin Scale, and mortality, as well as to determine the correlation between the GCS, FOUR, and FIVE scores

Screening Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with Fluid-attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) and Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI) sequences will be performed pre and post season on high school football players. One set of players will wear the Guardian Cap on their five star rated helmets and the other will wear five star rated helmets only. The investigators will compare outcomes of ImPACT scores and MRI findings between the two groups to see if there is a statistical difference in reduction of injury and to establish what the baseline level of MRI findings related to injury from high school football is as well as what the baseline level of injury is prior to the start of the season.

The purpose of this study is to study motor learning and recovery of patients with brain damage caused by traumatic brain injury or stroke with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). It is hypothesized that anodal tDCS on the lesion side and/or cathodal tDCS on the healthy side of motor cortex could improve the recovery of motor function such as learning.

The role of disorders of socio-emotional processes in cerebral diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, frontal temporal dementia, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, focal lesions, has been recognized recently. Social cognition refers to a large group of emotional and cognitive abilities regulating inter-individuals relationships and it includes mainly theory of mind, emotional information processing and empathy. However, assessment of socio-emotional processes is still largely based on experimental tests that are not validated for clinical purpose. In addition their long duration of administration is not adapted to clinical examination. Finally these tests have not been standardized and normalized in French-speaking population.

Paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity (PSH) is a frequent symptom after traumatic brain injury and concerns up to 30% of severely brain-injured patients. PSH is due to unbalanced autonomic nervous system activity, resulting in sympathetic surges causing hypertension, tachycardia, sweating and hypertonia. The affected patients suffer more pain, more cardiovascular distress, more infections and prolonged rehabilitation and mechanical ventilation; additionally it could lead to a worse outcome. Classical music was shown to reduce autonomic nervous system imbalance in healthy people and in many medical diseases. It could be a means to dampen sympathetic surges for brain-injured patients presenting with PSH, as well. Our study aims at demonstrating that early musical intervention, started with the weaning of sedation, can reduce both the prevalence and the severity of paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity in traumatic brain-injured patients.