Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

This is a research study to learn if a computer-based intervention that provides direct attention and metacognitive strategy development can improve attention, memory, and executive control in adolescents with moderate-to-severe TBI who are experiencing attention difficulties post injury.

Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) are brain lesions that commonly occur in preterm infants and are well-recognized major contributors to long-term brain injury and related disabilities later in life. Despite its prevalence, long term consequences, and enormous medical and social costs, mechanisms of IVH and optimal strategies to prevent or treat its occurrence are poorly defined, especially for extremely premature infants. Only one medical therapy, prophylactic indomethacin during the first 3 days of life, has been shown to prevent or decrease the severity of IVH in preterm infants, but its use is limited by toxic side effects and debatable effects on long-term outcomes. Several small studies and case reports suggest that delayed umbilical cord-clamping (DCC) may also decrease the incidence of IVH in premature infants, but thus far these trials have indomethacin treatment mixed within their cord clamping protocols. The investigators are conducting a randomized, blinded investigation of 4 treatment groups: 1) Control (no intervention); 2) DCC alone; 3) Prophylactic indomethacin alone; 4) Combination of DCC/indomethacin, with respect to survival, IVH or PVL incidence and severity, neurodevelopmental outcomes, and relevant mechanistic effects. With the steady rise in extreme prematurity births and clear links of IVH to long-term disabilities there is a need to improve care for these patients. This multi- disciplinary project addresses an important medical problem for an understudied patient population, where the current practice has clear limitations.

Annual incidence of severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) varies from 180 to 300 out of 100.000. Mortality or severe sequelae risk is increased 8 fold after a TBI. Studies in adults showed an ante-hypophyseal deficit in 28 to 68 % of patients with a TBI. The most common deficit is Growth Hormone Deficit (GHD); followed by gonadotropic and corticotropic (AdrenoCorticoTropic Hormone (ACTH)) insufficiencies. Thyrotropic deficits (Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone (TSH)) are less frequent. From a pathophysiological point of view, the lesional mechanism responsible for hypopituitarisms would be a damage of hypophyseal vessels or hypothalamic-pituitary vessels. The frequency of pituitary deficits and the potential beneficial effects of replacement therapy on quality of life, tiredness, loss of energy and productivity, justify the systematic detection of the deficits in patients with moderate to severe TBI. Study hypotheses : At the present time, the lack of data in children does not give us the opportunity to affirm that one part of the symptoms showed by children with post-TBI neuropsychological sequelae, are linked to pituitary deficiency and that they can be improved with a replacement therapy. Firstly, it is essential to better understand the natural history of post-TBI pituitary deficiencies, studying the connexion between observed deficiencies in acute and late phase of sequelae.

Study of simvastatin in Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans with multiple blast exposure and mTBI. The study will measure substances in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that are related to dementing disorders.

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effect of preventive intravenous infusion of half molar sodium lactate on the onset of hypertensive intracranial episodes in severe head trauma. The investigators hypothesize that preventive intravenous administration of sodium lactate will decrease the number of treatments required to decrease intracranial pressure during 48 hours.

The purpose of this study is to examine the efficacy of sertraline to prevent the onset of mood and anxiety disorders during the first six months after traumatic brain injury.

The workshop is a 6-week online workshop for caregivers of people with traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder, or dementia. It is being conducted jointly by the Stanford Patient Education Research Center and the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and is supported by a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Patient Care Services, Office of Care Management and Social Work. The goal of the study is to determine whether an online caregiver education and support workshop can have lasting beneficial effects in helping caregivers improve their self-management of health skills, stress, and improve their caregiving abilities.

Evaluation of the utility of a multi-modal assessment tool in distinguishing between individuals with and without a history of mild traumatic brain injury.

This is a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study about Cyclosporine A (CSP) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Cyclosporine A is a drug already marketed and available for other diseases, but is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of traumatic brain injury. The effect of Cyclosporine A on chemicals produced following brain injury is being determined using doses no larger than those used for patients having organ transplant. It is also being given for a much shorter time period (3 days). It is not know if side effects seen in patients taking cyclosporine A will occur when it is given for only 3 days. It is not known if patients with brain injury that are treated with cyclosporine A will have side effects like those seen in organ transplant patients.

The purpose of this study was to study the effect of stem cell therapy on common symptoms in patients with Traumatic Brain Injury