Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries, Traumatic"

This study seeks to compare two different behavioral treatments for pain in Veterans with a history of TBI. Both treatments involve educating the Veteran about pain, discussing the impact of pain, and different ways to manage it in hopes of decreasing pain and its impact on life. These approaches are called "self-management" approaches to pain. Both of these treatments are commonly used in pain clinics to treat pain in persons with back pain, headaches, and other types of chronic pain. The investigators will be delivering both treatments over the telephone to make the treatments accessible to Veterans wherever they live.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether sildenafil (Viagra®) is effective in improving cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity inpatients who have persistent symptoms at least 6 months after a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

In the exploratory multi-center Phase 2 a study safety, tolerability, pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of the Nitric Oxide Synthase inhibitor VAS203 is assessed in patients with moderate and severe traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury patients (32 males) receive 15, 20 and 30 mg/kg VAS203, respectively, by continuous infusion in three cohorts (Cohort 1 open; Cohorts 2 and 3 double blind, randomised placebo-controlled). End of Study for all patients will be Day 14; adverse events and concomitant medications will be documented throughout the study. Objectives are to assess safety and tolerability of VAS203, to evaluate concentrations of metabolites of VAS203 in plasma and microdialysate and to assess pharmacodynamic effects of VAS203 on surrogate parameters. Safety parameter will include vital signs (blood pressure heart rate, respiration rate, oxygen saturation and blood gases), fluid balance, ECG, laboratory examinations (clinical chemistry, liver function, haematology/coagulation, urinalysis, renal parameters) and adverse events. Concentration of VAS203 will be determined in plasma and microdialysate. Pharmacodynamic parameters will include intracranial pressure (ICP), biochemical parameters in microdialysate (nitrite/nitrate, arginine, citrulline, pyruvate, lactate, glucose), Partial Oxygen Pressure in brain parenchyma and Therapy Intensity Level (TIL).

Blast-related and blunt traumatic brain injury is a key priority area of Rehabilitation Research & Development (RR&D) and represents a critically important public health problem facing the Veteran population. Developing efficacious treatments for persistent memory deficits seen in this population is a key step in reducing the impact that such problems have in the everyday lives of Veterans. Memory problems after TBI in Veterans are quite heterogeneous, and efficacy will likely be maximized by developing and disseminating multiple alternative treatments individually matched to the Veteran's key deficits, and by research that seeks to understand the cognitive and neural basis of treatment-related change over time. The results of this approach may aid clinical decision making and assignment of patients to rehabilitative treatments most likely to improve memory capacity and functional outcome.

The investigators have assembled an integrated knowledge/technology/client team to develop a novel motion capture-based home therapy program for children with hemiparesis (cerebral palsy, acquired brain injury (ABI)) and older persons post-stroke. The investigators society needs new approaches to improve the quality of life for millions of Canadians. The method proposaed here is to combine low-cost motion capture devices, a bimanual training program, social media frameworks such as Facebook Games, and on-line performance sharing between therapy clients and with their therapists. The investigators believe that together these approaches will yield interventions for people with stroke and children with hemiplegia that significantly improve their motivation to continue their exercise programs and thus improve their functional ability which will lead to improved quality of life.

A new technology called Global Z-Score Neurofeedback Technology (GZNT) has been identified that can overcome an existing barrier to the use of neurofeedback as a treatment technique in a military setting. Neurofeedback, or EEG Biofeedback, is a form of biofeedback that uses the brain's own electrical activity as the training parameter. With sufficient practice, the brain can learn to change its own activity through finely tuned feedback using computerized sounds, graphs and animations. Previous attempts at using neurofeedback as a treatment modality have been subject to a lack of standardization and have required significant expertise on the part of the provider. This new GZNT technology allows neurofeedback to be administered in a standardized and semi-automated fashion, which, if effective, will represent a significant advance toward providing this promising treatment modality to Service Members in a military or VA setting. This study will determine feasibility and preliminary evidence of efficacy for this neurofeedback technology in a pilot study of soldiers with medical issues associated with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). GZNT technology has the potential to provide a cost-efficient, non-invasive/non-pharmacological approach to recovery from impact and/or blast-induced brain injury, and holds promise to simultaneously address emotional symptoms that are often a part of the post-concussion symptom picture.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently complicated by depression and other problems such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sleep disturbance, cognitive deficits and behavioral problems. Untreated depression can lead to reduced productivity and poor global outcome. There is no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug for the treatment of TBI-related depression. The overarching goal of this small study is to determine the effectiveness of low frequency right (LFR) rTMS for the treatment of post-TBI depression and co-occurring psychiatric symptoms. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a brain stimulation technique. It involves generating a brief magnetic field in a coil that is placed on the scalp. The magnetic field passes through the skull and induces a weak electrical current in the brain that briefly activates neural circuits at the stimulation site. Adults aged 18 and older, with a history of head injury of mild or moderate severity , who are currently experiencing symptoms of clinical depression may join the study.

Deficits in memory, attention, cognitive, and executive functions are the most common disabilities after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Dopamine (DA) neurotransmission is implicated in these neural functions and dopaminergic pathways are recognized to be frequently disrupted after TBI. Methylphenidate increases synaptic DA levels by binding to presynaptic dopamine transporters (DAT) and blocking re-uptake. The objectives of this study are to use PET imaging with [11C]-raclopride, a D2/D3 receptor ligand, before and after administering methylphenidate, to measure endogenous DA release in patients who are experiencing problems with cognition, attention and executive function in the chronic stage after TBI. In addition, we will use TMS to test short intracortical inhibition, a gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor A (GABAA) - mediated phenomenon, which is under partial DA control, as a measure of dopaminergic activity on and off

Driving is a portal into general life functioning, and impaired driving skill can pose a serious threat to the combat veterans (CV), passengers and others; and involves increased risk of subsequent injuries, medical expenses and legal sequelae. Motor vehicle crashes (MVC) among post deployed CV are one of the top four causes of injury and disability, hospitalization, and outpatient visits across the military, and are a leading cause of death among Army service members. The risk of motor vehicle (MV) death is significantly increased in years immediately following return from the battlefield. In sum, the effects of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)/ Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other blast related injuries, combined with the "battlefield" mindset and lack of community reintegration programs place CV at risk for MVC and fatalities. On-road assessments, the gold standard, presents a risk for crash or adverse advents in this population of CV. Alternately, simulated driving evaluation measures driving performance in a safe, accurate and objective manner with evidence of absolute and relative validity when compared to real world (on-road) driving. Knowing participants can or cannot safely resume driving, and providing rehabilitation for those with a potential for resuming safe driving could result in: increased safe driving behaviors; avoidance of injuries, collisions, citations and participants residua; and resuming safe driving with its attendant benefits in the realms of family functioning, participation in society and satisfaction with life. The overarching objective of this proposal is to discern, after clinical and simulated driving performance testing , if Occupational Therapy Driving Intervention (OT-DI) can improve the safe driving performance (less errors) over the short term (immediately following intervention) and intermediate term (3 months).

Post-traumatic brain hypoxia/ischemia develops hours after traumatic brain injury (TBI), and its intensity is directly related to the neurological outcome. The thresholds for irreversible tissue damage following TBI indicate a particular vulnerability of injured brain. Improving brain oxygenation after severe TBI is the focus of modern TBI management in the intensive care unit (ICU). The calculation of cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), with CPP = mean arterial pressure (MAP) - intracranial pressure (ICP), has become the most used estimator of cerebral blow flow. To prevent ischemia due to elevated ICP, current international guidelines recommend maintaining CPP at 60-70 mmHg and ICP below 20 mmHg. However, episodes of brain hypoxia/ischemia, as assessed with brain tissue oxygen pressure (PbtO2) measurements, might occur despite optimization of CPP and ICP, and have been independently associated with poorer patient outcome. PbtO2 values lower than 15 mmHg for more than 30 minutes were shown to be an independent predictor of unfavorable outcome and death. The aggressive treatment of low PbtO2 was associated with improved outcome compared to standard ICP/CPP-directed therapy in cohort studies of severely head-injured patients. On the basis of these findings, it is hypothesized that an early optimization of brain oxygenation, together with keeping ICP and CPP within recommended values, could reduce the volume of vulnerable lesions following severe TBI and possibly improve neurological outcome.