Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

Nutrition is an important part of the recovery process after having a head injury so that subjects can gain strength and fight off infection. Liquid nutrition formulas are often given to patients through a tube that has been placed into the intestines for feeding when they are unable to eat on their own. Some reports suggest that nutrition with extra amounts of the amino acid called glutamine may decrease infections and hospital stay in severely injured patients.The purpose of this study is to evaluate if giving extra amounts of an amino acid called glutamine with liquid nutrition formulas will decrease the risk of infection and length of stay in the intensive care unit after having a head injury.

The waveform assessment of an athlete's speech production has a high probability of showing abnormalities after brain injury (concussions) which could be used not only for diagnosis of the concussion, but for recovery of the brain. The aim of this study is to investigate this possibility using the Cobweb automated application system for acoustic processing.

This proposal will test the diagnostic utility of fast magnetic resonance (MR) in young children with Traumatic brain Injury (TBI). In children, TBI causes >2000 deaths, 35,000 hospitalizations and 470,000 emergency department visits in the US each year, making it a leading cause of pediatric disability and death. Currently 20-50% of these children undergo computed tomography (CT) scanning, exposing them to harmful radiation, and increasing their lifetime risk of cancer. Risks are especially increased in children because the neurologic exam is less reliable, because growing tissues are more vulnerable to radiation, and because children have more years to accumulate harmful mutations. Fast MR is a short, motion-tolerant protocol that has been used in children with shunted hydrocephalus to eliminate radiation exposure without the need for sedation. However, fast MR has not been validated in children with TBI, a critical gap. The investigators will measure feasibility and diagnostic utility of fast MR in children < 6 years (72 months) old who undergo head CT for TBI. The Investigator will recruit children in whom a head CT is ordered for TBI. Consenting subjects will undergo fast MR shortly after CT and results will be compared to determine: 1) whether fast MR identifies all traumatic injuries identified by CT and 2) whether fast MR without sedation can be performed quickly and successfully.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a frequent pathology leading to major morbidity and mortality in young people. Cerebral flood flow maintenance is a major goal directed therapy to improve the prognosis of the patient. Due to cerebral-myocardial interaction, a myocardial dysfunction might occur at the early phase of the traumatic brain injury. This myocardial dysfunction could be partly responsible for a decrease in cerebral blood flow. In such case, improving myocardial dysfunction may help to increase cerebral blood flow and improve patient prognosis. In clinical practice the easiest and non invasive way to explore myocardial dysfunction is with transthoracic echocardiography. The objective of this trial is to investigate myocardial dysfunction at the early phase of traumatic brain injury, compared with a controlled group without TBI.

The experimental design is an open-label two-week trial of tolcapone to evaluate which clinical domains are affected by tolcapone treatment and to identify "responders" to tolcapone treatment in the two subject groups (BI and NCD)

The study will ask the question as to whether or not it is possible to deliver education material to patients with a mild traumatic brain injury in a consistent matter. The question will be asked as to whether an educational intervention decreases symptom reporting specifically looking at headache symptoms. Half of the patients will receive the current standard of care in the tertiary clinic they have been referred to while the other half will also receive the current standard of care with the addition of targeted headache educational material at various time points.

A brain injury can damage the brain, so that it no longer receives information about the space around one side of the world. If this happens, people may not be aware of anything on one side, usually the same side they also lost their movement (the most affected side). This severe condition is called spatial neglect. Currently there is no recommended diagnostic test or clinically-proven treatment for the condition. In a recent study, the investigators found a long-lasting reduction in neglect if people practiced picking-up an object with their unaffected hand. This intervention is called Spatial Inattention Grasping Home-based Therapy (SIGHT). It requires people to lift wooden rods of different lengths. Once a person is familiar with the task, they can practice on their own at a time convenient to them in their homes. The investigators have developed the first computerized version of SIGHT (c-SIGHT) as well as a novel diagnostic test for neglect using portable low-cost motion-tracking technology that can be used in the patient's home. In the proposed study, the investigators will investigate how usable and acceptable this technology is in people's homes. Stroke survivors (recruited from community settings) will undergo a 7-day self-led training at their homes with c-SIGHT. At the end of the intervention, 1:1 semi-structured interviews will be carried out with both stroke survivors and carers to investigate usability and acceptability of c-SIGHT. Moreover, spatial neglect, carer burden and motor function will be assessed pre- and post-completion of c-SIGHT.

Invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring, using modalities such as parenchymal pressure transducer or external ventricular drain (EVD), provides an ICP waveform that encapsulates valuable diagnostic and monitoring clinical information. HS-1000 device, a proprietary new non-invasive ICP monitor, is expected to display an ICP waveform safely and accurately with minimal discomfort to patients, compared to standard invasive ICP monitoring procedures used at the participating institutions.

Blunt head trauma (BHT) accounts for >450,000 emergency department (ED) visits for children annually in the US. Fortunately, >95% of head trauma in children is minor in nature. Although most children have minor head trauma, clinicians obtain cranial CTs in 35-50% of these children, which carries a radiation risk of malignancy. Recently, the investigators conducted a study of 44,000 children in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) in which the investigators developed and validated clinical prediction rules that identify which children with minor BHT are at very low risk of having clinically-important traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and, therefore, do not require a CT scan. In this proposal, the investigators aim to assess whether implementing the PECARN TBI prediction rules (one for preverbal, one for verbal children) via computerized clinical decision support (CDS) decreases the number of (unnecessary) cranial CT scans obtained by ED physicians for children with minor BHT at very low risk of clinically-important TBIs. After a two-site pilot phase to test and refine the CDS, the investigators will conduct a seven-center prospective trial. The investigators will measure cranial CT use prior to and after the intervention implementation of CDS and clinician education. The investigators will study the use of CT by practitioners for children <18 years for 12 months pre- and post-intervention.

The incidence of central auditory dysfunction in war fighters who are exposed to high-explosive blasts while serving in combat have not been clearly determined. The objectives of this study are to determine whether central auditory processing (CAP) disorders are associated with exposure to high-explosive blasts. This study will also examine the incidence, magnitude and timing of spontaneous recovery of CAP function from blast exposure. The information provided by this study will help guide clinicians in both the military and VA health care systems regarding the likelihood of central auditory processing disorders in soldiers returning from deployment and suggest some clinical rehabilitative strategies for the treatment of these patients with CAP deficits.