Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

This study is designed to expand the database of flortaucipir F 18 safety and tau binding as measured by PET imaging and to provide standardized conditions for flortaucipir PET use, data collection and analysis to facilitate companion studies including, but not limited to, longitudinal studies of aging, depression, and traumatic brain injury.

Significant morbidity, mortality, and related costs are caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI). A simple, effective, and lightweight device worn by athletes or war fighters in the field, designed to mitigate TBI resulting from blast trauma or concussive events, would save lives, and the huge costs currently being experienced for life-treatment of surviving victims. An externally-worn medical device that applies mild jugular compression according to the principle of the Queckenstedt Maneuver (the Device) is being developed by Q30 Labs, LLC (Q30). Initial research suggests that the Device has the potential to reduce the likelihood of TBI. The currently developed collar (Smith 2009; Smith 2011; Smith 2011; Smith 2012) has been approved for studies in humans and the results indicate safety for use during high demand and maximal exertion activities, Study ID: 2013-2240, Institutional Review Board - Federalwide Assurance #00002988). Regarding safety, the externally worn collar is meticulously designed to mimic the body's own omohyoid muscle actions upon the jugular veins that will provide similar pressure and volume increases not to surpass that of a yawn or the mere act of just lying down. This study will investigate the effectiveness of this device in high school athletes playing a collision or contact sport such as football, hockey, or lacrosse. The high risk sports which utilize helmets during competition will allow for measurements systems to be embedded in the headgear and will not affect play or fit of equipment. Athletes participating in this study will be enrolled into one of two groups 1) device wearing or 2) non-device wearing. By the nature of the sports selected, it is likely this pilot study will primarily include males, however if any female meets inclusion criteria on the team selected they will be included in this pilot investigation. The helmets of all participants will be outfitted with an accelerometer which will measure the magnitude of every impact to the head sustained by the athlete. Effectiveness of the device will be determined by brain imaging during the pre-season, midseason, and end of season time points. A subset of athletes who report a diagnosed concussion will also receive additional brain imaging within the week following the diagnosed concussive event.

Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) is a non-invasive form of brain stimulation that has previously been to shown to have therapeutic potential in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. In this study, the study team will use a brain activity monitor (electroencephalogram, EEG) and a computer-based task to observe the effects of different forms of tES, like transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS), on impulse control and sustained attention in people with TBI. Additionally, the study team will measure how much tDCS and tPCS affect the brain activity of a specific area of the brain associated with impulse control and attention. Problems with response inhibition have been shown to make rehabilitation more difficult for people with TBI. It also reduces social functioning and can also negatively affect job performance, which ultimately lead to a decreased quality of life. A better understanding of the effects of tES in TBI patients could be informative in finding out what its therapeutic potential is for this population.

Traumatic brain injury is a common neurosurgical emergency managed in all tertiary and secondary hospitals. Detecting the underlying pathology is a major challenge especially for surgical cases. The outcome differs if the early intervention is performed. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) based device will detect the hematoma at the bedside. It is not the replacement of a CT scan but can help in triage. This is a large-scale prospective study to establish the role of NIRS device in detecting intracerebral hematoma and correlate the finding with CT scan finding.

This study is a Phase 2, open-label study of a therapeutic intervention (graded exercise)compared to a reference therapy (passive stretching) in patients who have sustained mTBI. Subjects will be randomly assigned with a ratio of 1:1 to complete either graded exercise or passive stretching using a parallel-group design. The effects of graded exercise and passive stretching will be compared using ClearPlay© (ANSwers Neuroscience Pty Ltd commercial mobile application) The study will also validate the performance of two devices: ClearHeart©, ANSwers Neuroscience Pty Ltd commercial prototype for cold pressor testing, compared to ice bucket testing. ClearPlay©, ANSwers Neuroscience Pty Ltd commercial prototype based on the joint position error test to assess "whiplash".

Introduction: Increased intracranial pressure (ICP) is considered to be the most important intracranial mechanism causing secondary injury in patients admitted after acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) and intracranial haemorrhage (ICB) including subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Currently, ICP can be measured and monitored only using invasive techniques. The two ICP measurement methods available - intraventricular and intraparenchymal - require both a neurosurgical procedure in order to implant the catheter and probes within the brain. The invasiveness of current methods for ICP measurement limits the diagnoses reliability of many neurological conditions in which intracranial hypertension is a treatable adverse event. A reliable, accurate and precise non-invasive method to measure ICP would be of considerable clinical value, enabling ICP measurement without the need of a surgical intervention. Aim: The aim of this study is to validate a novel non-invasive ICP measurement device by comparing its measurement with the "gold standard" invasive ICP-measurement by intracranial probe. The device used in this study has been been developed in the Telematic Science Laboratory at the Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania. Methods: The non-invasive ICP measurement method will be assessed prospectively using repeatable simultaneous non-invasive and invasive (standard with intracranial probe) ICP measurements on patients presenting with TBI and SAH. The device method is based on two-depth transcranial doppler (TCD) technique for simultaneously measuring flow velocities in the intracranial and extracranial segments of the ophthalmic artery (OA). The intracranial segment of the OA is compressed by ICP and the extracranial segment of the OA is compressed by the pressure Pe externally applied by the device. Two-depth TCD device is used as an accurate indicator of the balance point (Pe = ICP) when the measured parameters of blood flow velocity waveforms in the intracranial and extracranial segments of OA are identical. The device has the same ultrasound transmission parameters as existing TCD devices and meets all patient safety criteria.

Background: - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) injures blood vessels in the brain. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) help the body form new blood vessels. The drug erythropoietin (EPO) helps the body make more blood cells and might help make blood vessels. Researchers want to see if EPO helps people with TBI. Objective: - To see whether erythropoietin increases the number of endothelial progenitor cells circulating in the blood and changes reactivity of brain vessels. Eligibility: - Adults age 18 70 who had a TBI 3 7 days ago and still have symptoms. Design: Participants will be screened with medical history and blood tests. Vital signs will be taken. Visit 1: Medical history, physical exam, and blood sample. Neuropsychological tests of memory, attention, and thinking. These include written and spoken questions, tests on paper or computer, and simple actions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan with carbon dioxide. Participants will lie on a table that slides in and out of a metal cylinder. For part of the scan, participants will wear a breathing mask like a snorkel and wear a nose clip. Study drug or placebo injection under the skin of the arm, leg, or buttock. Visits 2, 3, and 4 will be 1 week apart. Blood sample. Review of TBI symptoms and any drug side effects. Study drug or placebo injection under the skin. Visit 5 will be 1 week after visit 4. Visit 6 will be 6 months after participants start the study. Blood sample. Review of TBI symptoms and any drug side effects. Neuropsychological tests. MRI with carbon dioxide.

The Armeo Spring has proven its effectiveness in the rehabilitation of acute stroke patients. It neutralizes limb weight, enabling patients to use residual control in both arm and hand and to follow exercises guided by simulations of real-life challenges. The Armeo Spring incorporates wrist pronation and supination, allowing patients to enhance functional reaching patterns. Aim of the study is to compare the Armeo device with standard physiotherapy in chronic patients with acquired brain lesions. The result of the trial should show which treatment is more effective in the clinical practice. A significant better outcome of one arm should suggest to follow one treatment strategy more than the other.

Osmotic therapy is a mainstay in the treatment of intracranial hypertension after traumatic brain injury.This study proposes to compare two hypertonic saline agents in patients with traumatic brain injury.

Animal studies have shown that preconditioning with hyperbaric oxygen can induce central nervous system and heart ischemic tolerance. This study was designed to determine the protective effect of hyperbaric oxygen preconditioning on brain and myocardium ischemia-reperfusion injury during coronary artery bypass graft surgery.