Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

The administration of N-acetyl-cysteine (an anti-oxidant) for seven days along with observation will result in improved hearing and balance function in individuals who demonstrate these disorders after blast exposure when compared to a placebo medicine and observation at the seven day time point.

The purpose of this study is to determine if carbamazepine reduces irritability and aggression among individuals with traumatic brain injury

Motor imagery is a technique widely used in learning skills. Its effectiveness has been proven in various sports and in musicians. A recent review (Braun et al. 2006) suggested that this technique may also be effective in rehabilitation of patients with neurological disease or damage, but that further research was needed. The main purpose of this research is to discover whether motor imagery practice is beneficial in the rehabilitation of skills in patients who have some disability due to neurological disease or damage. The principal research question is: are physiotherapy and occupational therapy given incorporating motor imagery more effective than standard care (i.e., the same therapies but without integrated motor imagery) in re-training task specific performance for patients with neurological disease or damage?

To show that the use of intravenous levetiracetam(LEV;Keppra)for seizure prevention in patients in the Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit will result in fewer side effects compared to the current standard of care anticonvulsant and will be at least as effective as the current standard of care in preventing clinical and sub-clinical seizure activity.

Depression is very common in people who have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Few treatments have been found to be effective in treating depression in this situation. We intend to investigate the effectiveness of a form of brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, which has been found to be effective in treating depression in people who have not undergone a brain injury. By evaluating new methods of treating depression in this population, we hope to increase the options available for treating people in this difficult situation. Furthermore, problems with aspects of thinking are also commonly present post brain injury, as in some individuals with depression. Various brain stimulation techniques, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have been shown to have a positive effect on cognition. We also intend to investigate whether a therapeutic effect on cognitive deficits is present following TMS, in addition to any effects on depression. New treatment protocols will be developed, and understanding of the pathology and treatment of post traumatic brain injury depression will be enhanced.

Objective: To evaluate real acupuncture, as compare to sham acupuncture, in improving persistent sleep difficulties in veterans with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) Design: Randomized, blinded, sham-controlled clinical trial Setting: Outpatient clinic at a major VA medical center in Southeast USA Participants: Sixty veterans aged 24-55 (mean 40) with history of mTBI at least 3-month and beyond, suffering from sleep difficulties refractory to regular care and sleep education, as indicated by a global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) score of 14.25 + 3.23 pre-intervention (baseline). They were randomized into 2 groups, real acupuncture versus sham acupuncture, and stratified by Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosed by PTSD CheckList - Military Version (PCL-M). Intervention: Real or sham acupuncture with both standardized and individualized acupoints selection. All subjects were informed that the treatments, if effective, may improve symptoms such as pain, anxiety or depression other than sleep; real acupuncture may not be effective in some individuals, and sham acupuncture may as well be effective by mind-body interactions. Outcome Measures: Primary outcome measure was global PSQI score change after intervention as compared to baseline. Secondary outcome measure was wrist-actigraphy sleep latency, sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleep duration. PTSD was analyzed as a co-variant.

The purpose of this study is to learn if using the World Wide Web to train teens and their families in problem-solving, communication skills, and stress management strategies can help them to cope better following traumatic brain injury (TBI). To answer this question, we will look at changes from before the intervention to after the intervention on questionnaire measures of problem-solving skills, communication, social competence, adjustment, and family stress and burden. We hypothesize that families receiving the TOPS intervention will have better parent-child communication and problem-solving skills at follow-up than those receiving the IRC intervention. Additionally, families receiving the TOPS intervention will have lower levels of parental distress, fewer child behavior problems and better child functioning than those receiving the IRC intervention. Lastly, treatment effects will be moderated by SES and life stresses, such that families with greater social disadvantage will benefit more from the TOPS intervention.

The aim of the study is to compare a multidisciplinary examination and follow up by rehabilitation program with a multidisciplinary examination, good advice and follow up by the family doctor. Further on we will examine if there were differing clinical characteristics between patients who attended a planned follow-up session and those that failed to and Prognostic factors in mild traumatic brain injury patients after discharge from hospital.

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of an Internet-based psychosocial treatment in improving problem-solving, communication skills, stress management strategies, and coping among teens who have had a traumatic brain injury and their families.

The investigators plan to utilize conivaptan (Vaprisol) to promote isolated water loss, in combination with normal (physiologic) fluid replacement to maintain a normal blood volume status, in patients with severe TBI. The goal of this therapy is to raise blood sodium in a controlled fashion in subjects with severe TBI, and reduce the use of hypertonic saline infusion. We hypothesize that this therapy will maintain a stable state of high blood sodium, while decreasing the overall sodium load needed to achieve these goals.