Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

The objective of the study is to compare the effects of 48 hours ketamine infusion versus sufentanil infusion on brain glutamate concentrations measured with microdialysis after traumatic brain injury. We hypothesize that ketamine infusion will decrease high glutamate values faster than sufentanil.

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of tRNS while undergoing computerized cognitive rehabilitation therapy to conclude if this combination of therapies would be effective for the cognitive rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain damage, such as traumatic brain injury. We want to study the therapeutic potential of tRNS to enhance the therapeutic outcome of cognitive training, studying its global effect over the rehabilitation of attention, memory and executive functions, compared to sham tRNS.

To study the safety and effect of autologous umbilical cord blood stem cells for treatment brain injury

Purpose: This early phase 2 clinical trial aims to evaluate the therapeutic effects and safety of apatinib in radiation-induced brain injury. Further study details as provided by Sun Yet-sen Memorial Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University / Yamei Tang. Primary outcome measure: The proportion of patients with an objective response defined as ≥ 25% reduction in brain edema volume on MR fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) images.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a severely disabling injury which affects 150-200 people per million annually. Increasing evidence suggests that TBI may be a major risk of dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) in particular. Postmortem evidence has shown that beta-amyloid (Aβ) deposits, one of the most validated pathological biomarkers of AD, are present in the brains of severe TBI patients. Although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, the axonal injury may play a role. Imaging investigations have revealed Aβ density maps of TBI patients overlapped with those of AD patients, and increased Aβdensity not only associated with prolonged TBI duration but also associated with decreased white matter integrity. Hence, the increasing accumulation in Aβ due to TBI may contribute to the initiation of the pathological alterations seen in AD. Treatment of TBI may not only be of benefit for the injury itself but also act to block the pathological changes in AD. As a part of the clinical arm of the project, in this subproject investigators will conduct a single-blind, block-randomized clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in TBI. More specifically, investigators hypothesize that acupuncture intervention will elicit neuroprotective processes and thereby reduce axonal damage in TBI, manifested as (1) decreased plasma levels of Aβ peptide, tau, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and (2) increased white matter integrity after acupuncture. Ninety-six participants will be randomly allocated to the acupuncture intervention (verum acupuncture) or control group (sham acupuncture) in a 1:1 ratio. All participants will receive 20 minutes of acupuncture treatment twice a week for 2 weeks. A set of commonly used acupoints for TBI treatment will be manually stimulated every 10 minutes. The multi-modality magnetic resonance imaging (T1, T2, and diffusion tensor imaging) and blood sample will be taken before and after the acupuncture session to measure the white matter integrity in brain and plasma levels of Aβ peptide, tau, and GFAP, respectively. After integrate these data with other subprojects, we can provide synergic and integrative mechanisms of the effects of acupuncture on the risk of AD after TBI.

The present observational study is aimed at reporting the short-, mid- and long-term outcomes of patients with Disorder of Consciousness (DOC), in Vegetative State (VS) or Minimally Conscious State (MCS), due to a severe Acquired Brain Injury (sABI), after repeated treatments with anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (L-DLPFC), to stimulate recovery of consciousness. The results obtained will also be compared with those of a historical control cohort, before the introduction of tDCS, matched for demographic and clinical characteristics.

Alcohol is one of most common harmful substance, and alcohol intake brings great burden on health worldwide. Excess alcohol intake may lead to alcohol-related brain injuries and cognitive impairment. Although both nerve growth factor and antioxidative treatment were effective to relieve alcohol-related injuries in central nervous system in the preclinical studies, there is no relevant clinical trial about their efficacy and safety on patients. Since nerve growth factor and one of the antioxidative medication, edaravone, have been used in some neural diseases in clinical trials, we tend to evaluate the efficacy and safety of nerve growth factor, or edaravone on alcohol-induced brain injuries. The study is a randomized-controlled study and the patients will be assigned into one of the following three groups randomly: (1) regular treatment (combination of vitamin B1, B6, C, E and mecobalamine) with nerve growth factor for 2 weeks and subsequently regular treatment for 6 months; (2) regular treatment (RT) with edaravone for 2 weeks and subsequently RT for 6 months; (3) RT alone for 6 months. The patients will be followed up for 6 months. Cognitive functions, recurrence of alcohol dependence, duration of abstention, alcohol intake, craving for alcohol and other psychological assessments will be recorded and compared among the 3 treatment groups and the efficacy of nerve growth factor or edaravone will be evaluated in our study.

High rates of patients with frontal brain damage show serious cognitive functional deficits, which negatively impact their quality of life and are linked with poor clinical outcomes. Sulforaphane has shown significant antioxidant and cellular protective effects in animal models associated with oxidative stress, such as focal cerebral ischemia, brain inflammation, and intracranial hemorrhage. Preclinical research has shown that sulforaphane can significantly improve spatial localization and working memory impairment after brain damage. The primary aim of this clinical trial is to assess the efficacy of sulforaphane for improving cognitive function in patients with frontal brain damage.

This study will examine the behavioural and neurophysiological efficacy and feasibility of an online spatial navigation intervention for improving memory and brain health in individuals who have sustained moderate-severe traumatic brain injury.

In the present study the investigators aim to analyze the performance in a battery of social cognition tests of subjects with traumatic brain injury. On the other hand, the effectiveness of a computerized rehabilitation program designed to improve these deficits will be tested, as well as the relationship between social cognition and executive functioning.