Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

The investigators intend to determine the effect of adrenergic blockade on 1) short-term physiology, behavior, and cognition and 2) long-term neuropsychological outcomes after severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). The primary hypothesis is that adrenergic blockade after severe TBI will be associated with increased ventilator-free days.

FES is a form of treatment with a device to aid movement in people who have had damage to their brain or spinal cord. Small electrical impulses are used to excite/stimulate the nerves that supply paralyzed muscles. This activates those muscles, enabling them to produce basic but useful movement. Self-adhesive patches (electrodes) are placed on the skin close to the nerve that supplies the muscle and are connected by wires to a stimulator that produces the impulses. In this way, FES is used to correct the muscle weakness that is caused by injury to the brain or spinal cord. Repetitive task practice is an "activity-based" therapy program that has been shown to enhance the recovery of hand and arm functions after stroke. This therapy consists of a set of training activities that are designed by a qualified therapist specific to your functional abilities that are to be performed with the impaired hand. These activities are designed to stimulate functional improvement with repetitive practice. Spasticity is a nervous system disorder where certain muscles are continuously contracted. Botox injections are commonly used to help to reduce spasticity in areas of the body with increased muscle tone. This research is designed to look at any additional benefit that may occur when Botox injections are combined with specific occupational therapy exercises and with a device that uses functional electrical stimulation (FES) to help improve muscle function after stroke.

Adults who sustain brain damage due to stroke, traumatic injury or surgery may develop difficulty finding words. This study compares the effectiveness of two behavior-based programs to improve picture naming ability in these individuals.

The aim of this project is to compare the efficacy of two different fitness exercise programmes on improving fitness and psychosocial functioning in a traumatic brain injured population. We hypothesize that a supervised fitness-centre based exercise programme, compared to an unsupervised home-based exercise programme will show significant improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, depression and community integration.

The purpose of this study is to determine if progesterone treatment safely reduces brain swelling and damage after injury.

The purpose of this trial is to determine if mild hypothermia therapy, for severe head trauma patients, improves neurological outcome.

This is a multi-centre randomised trial to evaluate the effect of early decompressive craniectomy on neurological function in patients with severe traumatic brain injury. The primary outcome is neurological function measured at 6 months post injury using the Glasgow Outcome Score. Neurological function is qualified as proportion of favourable outcomes (Glasgow Outcome Score Extended [GOSE] grades 5-8).

This study is designed to investigate the efficacy and safety of rivastigmine compared with placebo in patients with traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairment.

Brain damage as a result of decreased oxygen to the brain is found in 80% of patients that die with severe head injuries. Laboratory studies in animals and clinical trials have shown that increasing oxygen in the brain results in better brain oxygen consumption, less cell death, and better functional outcome. This study will test the hypothesis that Oxycyte is an effective way to increase brain oxygen levels in severe head injury.

The purpose of this study is to study the effects of EARLY (no more than 24 four hours from injury) administration of extra amounts of oxygen on traumatic brain injury.