Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries, Traumatic"

The primary objective of this study is to prospectively assess in randomized fashion whether short term anti-seizure prophylaxis in traumatic brain injured patients decreases the incidence of seizures in the early post-injury period. A secondary objective is to evaluate whether there are differences in mortality, hospital length of stay, functional outcome at hospital discharge, hospital cost, discharge status (home, rehabilitation facility, etc.) for patients who receive and do not receive anti-seizure prophylaxis.

The current project will examine the effect of a brief psychological intervention on post-concussion symptoms, neurocognitive function, cerebral blood flow (CBF), and psychophysiological and salivary cortisol markers of autonomic nervous system (ANS) in a sample of 20 participants between 13-25 years of age who experience long-term post-concussive (PC) symptoms 2-9 months post-injury as well as 20 age- and sex-matched controls (non-injured) participants to provide normative data on all the above measures except for concussive symptoms.

Patients who experience lung injury are often placed on a ventilator to help them heal; however, if the ventilator volume settings are too high, it can cause additional lung injury. It is proven that using lower ventilator volume settings improves outcomes. In patients with acute brain injury, it is proven that maintaining a normal partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the arterial blood improves outcomes. Mechanical ventilator settings with higher volumes and higher breathing rates are sometimes required to maintain a normal partial pressure of carbon dioxide. These 2 goals of mechanical ventilation, using lower volumes to prevent additional lung injury but maintaining a normal partial pressure of carbon dioxide, are both important for patients with acute brain injury. The investigators have designed a computerized ventilator protocol in iCentra that matches the current standard of care for mechanical ventilation of patients with acute brain injury by targeting a normal partial pressure of carbon dioxide with the lowest ventilator volume required. This is a quality improvement study with the purpose of observing and measuring the effects of implementation of a standard of care mechanical ventilation protocol for patients with acute brain injury in the iCentra electronic medical record system at Intermountain Medical Center. We hypothesize that implementation of a standardized neuro lung protective ventilation protocol will be feasible, will achieve a target normal partial pressure of carbon dioxide, will decrease tidal volumes toward the target 6 mL/kg predicted body weight, and will improve outcomes.

This is a follow-up study for an ongoing open label trial conducted by the Sheppard Pratt-Lieber Research Institute utilizing the catechol-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) inhibitor Tolcapone to evaluate its effects on cognition and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with brain injuries (BI). In this study, investigators will conduct a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial utilizing a crossover design to study the effects of two weeks of Tolcapone 200mg administered three times a day (total of 600mg/day) on cognitive performance. Physical, emotional, cognitive and social functioning will also be evaluated through participant and proxy report. The investigators are planning to randomize a total of 12 patients with a history of acquired brain injury (BI).

Increasing focus on the negative effects of bed rest have become more apparent in the intensive care unit within the last decade. A few studies have found an association between early rehabilitation starting at the intensive care unit and outcome after discharge from rehabilitation. The early mobilization presents with challenges regarding haemodynamic stability. The aim of this trial is to assess the feasibility before conducting a larger randomised trial that will investigate benefits and harms of an intensive physical rehabilitation intervention focusing on mobilisation to the upright position, starting as early as clinically feasible in the intensive care unit

In this study of patients with moderate traumatic brain injury with frontal brain contusions patients will be randomized to treatment with a single dose of either D-cycloserine or placebo given 48-72 hours after injury. Patients will undergo intensive neurocognitive testing at 3 and 6 months after injury to assess whether treatment with a single dose of D-cycloserine improves cognitive outcome after moderate brain injury.

To explore the cerebral protective effect of midazolam in patients with traumatic brain injury, we will collect blood samples from patients treated with or without midazolam when the patient is admitted to ICU, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after the admission before the use of midazolam for patients in group N1, and before the patient is treated with midazolam, 24 h， 48 h, 72 h after the use of midazolam for patients in group N2. Parameters of cerebral metabolism and inflammatory response will be obtained from the blood samples or the cerebrospinal fluid. With the aforementioned parameters, the relationship between clinical outcome and cerebral metabolism and inflammatory response will be detected with statistical method.

Prospective, Open Label, Cohort Study in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients. The goal of this study is to assess the safety of NTx®-265. NTx®-265 will be administered over 9 days, and patients will be followed for an additional 6 months.

This project seeks to determine the effect of prehospital resuscitation with hypertonic saline vs. conventional crystalloids on the inflammatory response after injury. The leading cause of late mortality following injury is multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), which results from a dysfunctional inflammatory response after injury. Previous studies suggest that hypertonic saline may be beneficial by modulating this initial response and decreasing subsequent organ injury. This project takes advantage of a unique opportunity, afforded by an NIH-funded multi-center clinical trial of hypertonic resuscitation (conducted by the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium), to obtain blood samples from patients enrolled in this trial to analyze inflammatory responses early after hypertonic vs. conventional resuscitation. This study was an ancillary study to the main randomized clinical trial and thus prospective observational in nature The proposed study will be carried out in experiments grouped in three Specific Aims: Aim 1 provides a thorough investigation of the immunomodulatory response following hypertonic resuscitation with regard to neutrophil, monocyte, and T cell responses at serial time points after injury and resuscitation. Aim 2 comprises experiments to investigate the mechanisms by which hypertonicity may alter inflammatory cell signaling. Aim 3 seeks to correlate the laboratory findings with clinical endpoints reflective of immune dysfunction including inflammation, organ failure, nosocomial infection, and sepsis. The investigators hypothesize that hypertonic resuscitation will be associated with modulation of the excessive inflammatory response seen after injury and thus will result in reduced rates of inflammatory organ injury.

This study evaluates the addition of therapy dogs in inpatient physical and occupational therapy. Data will be collected across 10 PT and 10 OT sessions, half of which will incorporate a therapy dog.