Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

Premature infants are at risk for acute brain injuries and long-term developmental problems such as cerebral palsy (CP). Research suggests that high levels of magnesium at and around the time of birth may decrease the risk of brain injuries. This study will evaluate the effects of giving magnesium to premature infants.

Hospitalized patients are often moved from their rooms to other hospital locations, particularly imaging facilities. For patients with traumatic brain injury, such movements may raise the risk of secondary brain injuries. The purpose of this study is to monitor brain injured patients during transport and to measure the resulting changes in intracranial pressure. This will allow for documentation of the frequency of secondary injury and help in understanding their causes.

Traumatic Brain Injury TBI is one of the most common causes of death and recovery failure worldwide. Each element of treatment, starting from possible surgical treatment, patient monitoring and neuroprotective treatment, can be important in the overall outcome of patients' treatment. More and more elements of treatment are discussed in the literature in the multimodal approach to the patient with a trauma to the central nervous system. Cerebrolysin is a drug with a proven beneficial effect on the prognosis of patients with TBI. In our trial we stated the hypothesis that Cerebrolysin in combination with multimodal monitoring and surgical craniotomy is beneficial for the patients. In retrospective analysis we divided the patients into two groups : with and without cerebrolysin. We also analyzed how cerebrolysin influences the treatment results with the combination with additional neuromonitoring of both invasive intracranial pressure (ICP) measurement and non-invasive saturation in the jugular vein, nirs, ultrasound of the optic nerve diameter. We also analyzed if there is any change in the results of treatment after combining Cerebrolysin with another neuroprotective drug : amantadine. We also analyzed the influence of craniotomy combined with cerebrolysin treatment. In an observational study, we collected information on 56 patients.

Cross cultural analytical study to translate Modified fatigue impact scale MFIS) in Urdu language. Along with the translated version by evaluating its validity and reliability among the patients of traumatic brain injury. No such study has been previously conducted in Pakistan which translate this scale in Urdu and follows the proper cross- culture adaptation.Condition or disease: Traumatic brain injury. Convenient sampling technique would be used.

A long-term follow-up study of patients who acquired a stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI) 5-15 years ago. Primary objective is to describe the interaction between measures of cognitive reserve and neuropsychological variables, psychological variables and healthcare usage in relation to outcome (i.e work return, satisfaction with life, psychological well-being and overall outcome) after stroke or traumatic brain injury. Secondary objectives are to describe differences in fatigue related to cognitive reserve after stroke or TBI and to describe differences in health-care usage related to cognitive reserve after stroke or TBI.

Safety and feasibility study investigating brain biopsy in severe head injury. When a patient undergoes craniotomy or ICP bolt insertion for trauma, a biopsy of brain tissue is taken. Blood, saliva, urine and faeces samples are also taken for 7 days following the brain biopsy. CSF is collected if a CSF drainage device is used.

The project encompasses the development and implementation of an acute care, pediatric concussion clinical pathway at 5 pediatric emergency departments in the province of Alberta (Canada).

Hypothesis 1: On fMRI scanning, frontoparietal activation during performance of executive function tasks of working memory, inhibitory control processes, and stimulus-response interference will exhibit greater signal intensity, a wider spatial extent, and more bilateral activation in chronic MTBI than chronic OI participants. Hypothesis 2: DTI changes, characterized by lower FA and higher MD at the gray-white junction, corpus callosum, central semiovale, and internal capsule, will be seen in MTBI but not in OI subjects. Hypothesis 3: Increased fMRI activation in chronic MTBI will be correlated with location and severity of disrupted fiber tracks that subserve neural networks associated with each fMRI activation task. Hypothesis 4: Performance on computerized neuropsychological testing (ANAM) and reaction time measures on fMRI tasks will better discriminate MTBI from OI than standard paper-and pencil tests. Hypothesis 5: The combination of fMRI, DTI, and ANAM will better discriminate MTBI from OI than each individual method. Hypothesis 6: More severe brain pathology in MTBI, as measured by neuroimaging (fMRI, DTI) and ANAM test scores, will be associated with less severe PTSD and symptoms.

Children with acquired and congenital brain lesions (namely, cerebral palsy, CP, and acquired brain injury, ABI) may exhibit upper limb impairment, with consequent limitations in their daily living activities. In recent years, robotic rehabilitation has become an important tool to promote functional recovery in patients with CP and ABI, thanks to its ability to promote high intensity, repetitive, engaging training. Moreover, it has additional advantages that can contribute to the understanding of the effectiveness of these devices in motor learning and recovery. It has indeed higher resolution and inter -rater and intra-rater reliability with respect to standard assessment methods (i.e. clinical scales). Furthermore, it is able to provide a quantitative evaluation of patients' movement during treatments instead of relying exclusively on qualitative observation. Recently, Merlo and co-workers (Sol et Salus, Rimini, Italy) developed and validated a tool to extract indices of accuracy, velocity and smoothness from the analysis of 3D trajectories of the end point of the robotic exoskeleton Armeo®Spring (Hocoma, CH). The primary aim of the study is to retrospectively investigate the effectiveness of robot-assisted upper limb rehabilitation in children affected by congenital and acquired brain damages by means of funcional scales and quantitative assessment of movement performance (accuracy, velocity and smoothness). Patients affected by acquired or congenital brain disease are enrolled. The inclusion criteria are: age between 5 and 18; the ability to handle objects in daily life within levels I, II, and III, according to the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS); the ability to understand and follow test instructions. Conversely, the exclusion criteria are: severe muscle contracture and/or spasticity, a diagnosis of severe learning disabilities or behavioral problems and visual or hearing difficulties that would impact on function and participation. Participants undergo the standard intervention protocol followed at the IRCCS E. Medea. It is composed by 20 sessions with Armeo®Spring and 20 sessions of physiotherapy, within 1 month. Patients are evaluated before (T0) and after (T1) the intervention with the Quality of Upper Extremities Skills Test (QUEST) and the Melbourne Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function. During the first, tenth and last training session, patients executed the "Vertical Capture" exergame, which assess patient's functional level during a task that involves elbow flex-extension and shoulder flex- extension and abd-adduction. From these evaluation sessions, quantitative indices of movement performance (precision, velocity and smoothness) are extracted.

The aim of this study is to investigate the early serum measurement (<6h after injury) of mRNA miR Let-7i, miR-16 and miR-92 in patients with MHI and intracranial traumatic lesions (CCT pos.) as compared to those in patients with MHI without intracranial traumatic lesions (CCT neg.). S100B serum levels will be measured in both groups. The usual risk factors for the occurrence of an intracranial hematoma (diagnostic algorithm) will be recorded. Additionally, a group of healthy individuals will serve as a control group.