Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries, Traumatic"

Background: Head injury is a common presentation to family medicine clinics and emergency departments (EDs), and the majority will not result in intracranial injury requiring neurosurgical consultation, but will have symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). It is estimated between 15-50% of patients with MTBI develop post-concussive syndrome (PCS). Research in the management of MTBI and prevention of PCS has been scarce to date. Although expert consensus recommends cognitive rest and graduated return to usual activities, these and other interventions are not based on prospective clinical evidence. Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine if providing graduated return to usual activities discharge instructions to MTBI patients in the ED decreases MTBI symptoms post-injury as compared to providing usual ED MTBI discharge instructions. Study Design: This will be a pragmatic, single-centered, 2-arm parallel-group, superiority randomized trial. Patient Population: Male and female patients presenting to the ED ages greater than 17 and less than 65 with the Canadian Emergency Department Information System (CEDIS) presenting complaint of "head injury". Outcomes: The primary outcome of this study is to determine if patients whom receive graduated return to usual activity discharge instructions have more clinically significant decreases in their Post-Concussion Symptom Score (PCSS) 2 weeks after MTBI versus patients who received usual care MTBI discharge instructions. Secondary outcomes include the intervention group's compliance with the intervention, comparison of PCSS between groups 4 weeks after initial ED visit, comparison of groups' number of return visit(s) to either an ED or physician's office, and the mean number of days of school or work missed for each group. Hypothesis: Given cognitive rest and graduated return to usual activities are concepts recommended by expert consensus, it is expected patients who follow the graduated return to usual activities and cognitive rest guidelines will have less MTBI symptoms at two weeks after ED discharge.

The goal of the proposed project is to improve the treatment of veterans with co-occurring traumatic brain injury (TBI) and hazardous or harmful alcohol use. The PI and coinvestigators will conduct a pilot controlled clinical trial of topiramate for the treatment of these co-occurring disorders.

This study seeks to determine if telephone counseling improves the outcome for persons with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Fifteen to twenty percent of adults who suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that requires hospitalization and rehabilitation have been found to have growth hormone (GH) deficiency by GH stimulation testing. Moreover, abnormalities have also been established for the cortisol and thyroid axis. The hypothesis of this proposal is that hormone replacement in TBI patients with documented abnormalities in the GH, thyroid, or cortisol axis will improve muscle function, body composition, aerobic capacity (GH) and tests of neuropsychologic function (GH, thyroid, cortisol).

The purpose of this study is to restore life role participation for those with TBI by customizing, applying, and testing integrated cognitive and motor training protocols that were successful in populations with impairments similar to TBI. The treatment protocols are based on principles of brain plasticity and re-learning, required to restore cognitive and motor function. The intervention targets an array of impairments that are obstacles to life role participation. These include cognitive attention and executive control; motor control for upper limb function; balance and gait; and cognitive executive control of simultaneous cognitive and motor tasks required by everyday tasks. The intervention utilizes training specificity, framing the intervention within functional task and life role activity component practice.

Intracranial pressure (ICP) in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) is influenced by several factors of which one is arterial CO2 tension. Patient with TBI are often sedated and mechanically ventilated in order to secure a stable PaCO2. This study compares two ventilation modus; Pressure Controlled Ventilation (PC) and Pressure Regulated Volume Controlled ventilation (PRVC) in order to observe which of the two ventilation strategies results in a more stable ICP and arterial CO2 pressure (PaCO2).

Treatment for veterans who have had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and who are suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) is varied with varied outcomes. Investigators will study PTSD treatment in military Veterans who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. Investigators will use 1 independent specialty treatment centers that utilize a specific novel methodology of PTSD treatments and study the clinical outcomes of veterans who have suffered a TBI with associated post-concussive symptoms and other comorbidities such as PTSD. Investigators hypothesize that the treatment of PTSD will have a significant outcome with neurological physical and vestibular rehabilitation when compared to psychological or psychiatric therapy. This study will use gold standard measurement scales and compare changes in the scales after treatment to evaluate the treatments.

The purpose of this study is to determine if memantine can improve cognitive and neuropsychiatric outcomes after severe traumatic brain injury.

Problem: Depressive symptoms are a common mental health problem following traumatic brain injury (TBI), occurring in up to 87% of patients. Depression following TBI has important consequences including poor functioning, lack of ability to return to work and family activities and prolonged TBI symptoms. The reason depression develops in some patients following TBI is unknown, making treatment difficult. One type of brain protein that shows genetic differences between people is called the serotonin transporter. People can be divided by whether or not they have a short protein (S allele) or a long protein (L allele) which influences the amount of serotonin transporter. Serotonin is a key brain chemical in depression in many mental/psychiatric illnesses. We think that the genetic differences in the serotonin transporter, that may not make a difference before TBI, may become important after TBI due to the nature of these injuries. Methods: A consecutive sample of 200 patients attending a TBI clinic who have sustained a mild-to-moderate TBI (American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine criteria) within the last 2 months will be assessed for the presence of major depression (standard criteria, standardized interview). In phase I, blood samples from patients with mild-to-moderate TBI with depression and without depression will be checked for the presence of the 5-HTTPR genetic difference. This will allow us to study if the S allele is more likely in TBI patients with depression. In phase II, the patients with depression will be treated with the SSRI citalopram for 6 weeks. At 6 weeks, or upon discontinuation of citalopram, depression will be assessed again. This will allow us to study if depressed patients with the S allele respond more poorly to treatment. Persons assessing depression after treatment will not know the genetic makeup of each patient. Results Expected: If the serotonin transporter genetic difference confers susceptibility to depression following TBI, this will provide important information on what causes depression following TBI and document a risk factor for depression previously unstudied in this population. Also, as SSRI antidepressants are used to treat depression in TBI, this study may identify a subgroup of TBI patients in whom different medications should be given or additional medications are required.

This study evaluates and addresses challenges to implementing an acupuncture intervention for adults who have headaches after sustaining a moderate traumatic brain injury. Eligible participants will be recruited from Seattle and the surrounding areas to receive weekly acupuncture for 12 consecutive weeks. Participants will complete questionnaires to assess headache impact, depression, health-related quality of life, and cognitive function at the beginning of the study and every two weeks for the duration of the study. Participants will participate in structured interviews after the study for their views on the acceptability and tolerability of the study protocol.