Traumatic Brain Injury: February 2007 Archives

California Teenager's Brain Injury a Sobering Story

On February 11, 2007, 18-year-old Jake Drew, his 12-year-old brother, and two of friends decided to take turns riding a sled tied to a pickup truck through a parking lot. The boys tied the sled to the bumper of Jake's truck and then drove the truck around the parking lot. During Jake's ride, the toboggan lost control and slammed Jake into a concrete curb, hitting his head and breaking his pelvis in two places. Alison Drew, Jake's mother, said that the boys did not usually engage in such dangerous behavior: "Something like this just came out of the blue. I'm sure they've never done that before." Jake has been in a medically induced coma since the accident.

Teenager's Injury a Cautionary Tale

Jake is a senior in high school, with a 4.0 grade-point-average, and he leads the drum line and pitches for the varsity baseball team. While Jake's prognosis is good, he will have a long recovery. Part of Jake's brain was removed in order to relieve swelling of his brain and Jake still needs the help of a ventilator to breathe. Shelly Atkinson, a community health director for a program that tries to prevent life-changing injuries in children by educating them, said that "the majority of unintentional injuries happen to children. They want to have fun, feel carefree, and they really feel they are invincible."

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Officials Meet With Activists Angry Over Brain-Damaged Girl's Treatment

A meeting in Chicago focused on whether treatment given to a severely brain-damaged girl was humane. The nine-year old girl had surgery to remove her womb and breast buds and also received growth-stunting hormones in order to permanently keep her child-sized. The girl's parents say that it will allow the girl to be more comfortable and allow for her to be cared for at home even as she gets older. However, activists say that such treatment is tantamount to mutilation.

A-M-A officials meet with activists angry over treatment to brain-damaged girl

Two officials from the American Medical Association met with members of grass-roots organizations at the meeting. While the two parties had hoped to reconcile their differences, no immediate policy changes could be agreed upon.

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Teenager Wins £6.6m for Brain Injury

Ryan Garrigan, who was born at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital in November 1991, suffers both cerebral palsy and mental impairment as a consequence of a birth injury. Garrigan was starved of oxygen at the end of labor, but the hospital did not pay attention to the signs. Consequently, Garrigan was born by emergency caesarean section bu he already had suffered permanent brain damage. Garrigan's mother said that “This has been a long battle but we always knew that something had gone wrong and that it was the doctor’s fault that Ryan is the way he is. We have had to fight all the way for 15 years to prove it and to get Ryan the compensation that will make sure he is secure for the rest of his life.”

Teenager awarded £6.6m for birth injury

While Garrigan is able to use most forms of assistive technology and is helped by specialist equipment and care, he will never be independent or be able to work. The settlement will be paid in linked annual payments which will ensure that Garrigan is able to pay for the care he needs in the future.

TBI Hell

Geo Gosling, of St. Helena, has spent the last 11 years re-learning to speak, walk, feed, and dress himself. Gosling was a mountain bike racer who was in training for a road bike race in criteriums when he had an accident that would result in his brain injury. In 1995, Gosling was “going like a bat out of hell” when he hit a pickup truck and ended up unconscious on the side of the road. His helmet saved his life; Gosling says that after the accident the helmet was split down one side, cracked in other places, and shaved down the right front.

A bicycle wreck that changed his life

Gosling still has difficulty speaking clearly, walks slowly, his right shoulder has permanent nerve damage and "his gums hurt like hell." Gosling has written a book about his struggles: TBI Hell. The book tells of Gosling's struggle to learn everything again and his realization that the only way to deal with his situation was with humor.

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Vasectomy-Brain Damage Link?

A recent study shows that men who have vasectomies may be at an increased risk for getting primary progressive aphasia, a disease which gradually destroys a person's ability to talk, read, and write. A Northwestern University medical school study compared 47 men with PPA with 57 men of similar age and education who had normal mental abilities. Forty percent of men with PPA had had vasectomies, compared to only 16% of the control group. In the PPA group, men who had vasectomies developed the disease an average of four years earlier than men who had not had vasectomies.

Is a Vasectomy Bad for Your Brain?

Lead researcher Sandra Weintraub said that she "doesn't want to scare anyone away from getting a vasectomy" and added that she hopes to do a follow-up study with a larger sample size. A vasectomy is an operation in which doctors cut the tubes that carry sperm from the testicles to the penis, allowing sperm to leak into the bloodstream. Earlier studies have shown that in many men, the immune system produces antibodies that attack sperm in the bloodstream. Weintraub speculates that sperm-fighting antibodies might also attack brain cells.

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Depression Risk Increases Following Brain Injuries

Dr. Lisa Thompson suffered a brain injury after a moped accident in Bermuda, but quickly bounced back. However, about six years later, Thompson killed herself. Thompson's family was surprised to learn of the prevalence of suicide in brain injury victims. As many as 75% of brain injury victims suffer from depression and their suicide rate is about four times higher than that of the general population, says Lance Trexler, the program director of neurobehavioral services at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Indiana.

Initiative Warns of Depression Risk After Brain Injuries

Thompson's family has started an initiative, The Lisa Thompson Center for Family Education, to help other brain injury victims recover from depression. "We wanted to do something proactive to see that other brain-injured patients and their families could benefit," said Dr. Normand T. Townley, Thompson's father. "Because when a brain injury comes, it's a family affair, whether you like it or not."

Brain Injured Girl Awarded £5.75 M

Laura Hegarty, an eight-year-old who suffers from quadriplegic cerebral palsy, was awarded £5.75m after London's High Court ruled that her injury was a consequence of "clinical negligence" by Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust. The Trust apologized for the "deficiencies in the care provided at the time of Laura's birth." Laura's counsel, John Cherry, said that the trust admitted a "breach of duty care" to Laura.

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Female Lacrosse Players At Higher Risk for Injury than Male Players

Female lacrosse players have higher rates of injuries to the head, face, and eyes than their male counterparts, according to a recent study. "Female players sustained more head, face, and eye (HFE) injuries partly because of a lack of protective equipment. Before 2005, protective eyewear was not required for females at any level of play. Our findings offer support to US Lacrosse's (2005) mandate of protective eyewear for all female lacrosse players," the authors of the study recommend.

Female Lacrosse Players At Higher Risk Than Males For Head, Face And Eye Injuries

Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the United States. The largest increase has come from the rise in women's NCAA lacrosse teams. Lacrosse is a fast paced sport, using a hard rubber ball that can reach speeds of 90 mph in men's games and 60 mph in women's games. Women's lacrosse does not require protective gear because women's rules prohibit bodily contact. The study found that fractures and contusions were common in both high school and collegiate women and occurred at significantly higher rates than in their male counterparts.

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Brain Injury May Stop Smoking

A recent study in the journal Science suggests that strokes that cause brain damage in a particular area of the brain have a much easier time quitting smoking. Brain damage to a small area in the cerebral cortex called the insula, which is linked to the development of physical sensation, leads to a much lesser desire to smoke in those studied.

'Science' journal reports brain injury may lead you to quit smoking

Researchers from the University of Iowa looked at 69 patients who had smoked prior to their brain damage and found 19 patients who had suffered damage to the insula. Of those, 13 had stopped smoking and 12 of them stopped with little or no effort within a day of their injury. Shockingly, those who stopped smoking had not cut back on smoking, they simply just stopped. These researchers think that this finding might also have implications for other addictive behaviors, like alcoholism and overeating. Researcher Antoine Bechara said that the research showed that while their is a need to protect the functions of the insula associated with behaviors needed for survival, this area of the insula is specifically involved with learned behaviors so targeted drug therapy may be possible.

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The Importance of Bike Helmets

Cecelia Warner and a visiting friend decided to go for a bicycle ride on a warm June evening in 1996. However, the bike ride would prove to impact Warner's life more drastically than she ever could have expected. Within minutes of leaving her house, the front wheel of Warner's bicycle hit the back wheel of her friend's bike and locked up. Warner flew over her handlebars and was knocked unconscious when she landed on the pavement. A Life Flight helicopter took Warner and her friend to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland where even more problems began to arise: Warner's friend only knew Warner's name, she didn't know the house phone number or address or have any way of contacting Warner's husband.

‘Helmet activist’ finds a calling

Warner remained in full body traction for three days and underwent numerous x-rays and scans of her brain and of her back. When she was asked who the U.S. president was, she said "Carter" instead of "Clinton." Even though Warner had been wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, she still had had a concussion that caused a brain hemorrhage. Warner has since become a "helmet activist," saying that her helmet prevented her accident from turning fatal.

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Brain Damage Claim Denied

The Delaware Supreme Court denied a man who was crushed between a truck and an excavation machine additional Worker's Compensation benefits after deciding that he did not suffer brain damage. Bruce Glanden said that as a result of the March 2001 accident he had suffered 20-50% brain damage. However, a doctor testified before the Industrial Accident Board that this was not the case, and Justice Randy Holland wrote the opinion confirming the rulings. "As the Superior Court noted, the experts for both parties agreed that Glanden was confused," Holland wrote. "However, the IAB accepted Dr. (Lanny) Edelsohn's testimony that, although Glanden was confused, he was not permanently impaired."

Delaware SC denies brain damage claim

While Glanden received benefits for the injuries that he sustained to his torso, clavicle, and elbow, he filed in July 2005 for more benefits, saying that he suffered permanent brain damage as a result of the accident. "Having examined Glanden on five separate occasions, Dr. Edelsohn concluded that he had not suffered any brain damage related to the industrial accident," Holland wrote.

Posted by Patricia Bowling at 02:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Matheny Announces Retirement Due to Post-Concussion Syndrome

San Francisco catcher Mike Matheny recently announced his retirement from baseball due to lingering effects from post-concussion syndrome. Matheny missed the last fourmonths of last season following a series of foul tips to his catcher's mask which resulted in the syndrome. Post-concussion syndrome has symptoms such as nausea, dizziness, and can lead to memory loss. Many hoped that Matheny would return in 2007 to finish his three-year contract with the Giants, but continued memory fogginess and the possibility of more brain damage caused Matheny to end his career.

Catcher's retirement bad sign for Koskie

Matheny's doctor refused to clear him to play and Matheny recently told reporters that "This is not a shoulder, a knee or an elbow. We're talking about the brain. I didn't expect this. I don't think anybody did." Post-concussion syndrome has become more prevalent in recent years, affecting many baseball players, including St. Louis centerfielder Jim Edmonds. Gord Ash, who oversees the Brewers' medical program, said that "there have been so many examples [of post-concussion syndrome] in the last year. Before that, you never really heard about it. We're all still looking for answers."

Posted by Patricia Bowling at 02:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recovery Kits Aid Victims of Brain Damage

Karen Fowler has experienced the frustrations of brain damage firsthand. Her brother, Michael Fowler, suffered a brain injury in a car accident 25 years ago and the damage proved permanent. Fowler was unable to continue his college courses and no longer could remember much of anything. "After hearing the same question five or six times I could even hear myself being sharp with him," said Fowler.

Recovery Kits Aiding Damaged Brain Victims

Fowler's experiences with her brother led her to create the 10-in-10 project. The project aims to help brain injury victims put their lives back in order and help the family of the injured person cope with the injury. The program uses a "Brain Recovery Kit," which includes a variety of simple tools that can be used to assist brain injury victims in remembering their lives. The kit comes with an eight-hour long DVD that explains the various techniques and also includes segments to help the patient's family contend with the injury.

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Teacher with Brain Injury Fights Back

Although Larry Fowler doesn't remember the accident that damaged his brain, he will live with the effects of the collision for the rest of his life. Fowler was driving from Rochester to Dundas when his car was t-boned from the passenger side by another car. Doctors advised that Fowler only teach part-time after his injury, but Fowler persevered. "I absolutely love teaching, of course. It's my life," he says.

Teacher with Brain Injury Battles Back

Fowler currently teaches part-time at Mayo High School in Rochester. The transition from a hectic, full-time schedule was difficult, but Fowler is coping well. Before the accident he was working on his doctorate and he worked as chair of his department at the school. Fowler's story is inspirational; brain injury does not mean you have to give up your interests or your career.

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Man Wins Settlement over Brain Injury

A 23-year-old Irish man who suffered severe brain injury at birth has been given a €2.9 million settlement. Jordan Byrne sued St. Muchin's Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick because the hospital failed to properly monitor his mother's blood pressure during her pregnancy. Consequently, Byrne's mother suffered eclamptic fits during the late stages of her pregnancy and Byrne was born by Caesarean section seven weeks prematurely. The Byrne family also says that Byrne was over-ventilated at birth and these incidents led to a severe brain injury.

Man in €2.9m settlement over brain injury

The court was told that Byrne is a bright and alert young man but that the injury means that he is permanently mentally and physically handicapped and will need constant medical attention for the rest of his life. The hospital denied any negligence and no liability was admitted.

Posted by Patricia Bowling at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Johnson Blames Belichick for Brain Injury

Ted Johnson, a 34-year-old former New England Patriots linebacker, says that coach Bill Belichick forced him to take hard hits during practice while he was recovering from a concussion. Johnson said that even though the top trainer for the team recommended that he take it easy, Belichick went against the trainer's advice.

Johnson Blames Belichick for Brain Injury

Johnson won three Super Bowl titles during his time playing for the Patriots before he retired two years ago. He suffered several concussions during his tenure and now forgets people's names, misses appointments, suffers from depression, and is addicted to amphetamines. "There's something wrong with me," said Johnson. "There's something wrong with my brain. And I know when it started."

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Stroke Treatment Helps Victims Recover Brain Function

A small study has discovered that a treatment used to treat blocked carotid arteries and in the prevention of strokes also improves brain function. Researchers found that almost half of the patients who were treated with a carotid stent to prevent a stroke showed drastic improvement in brain function, judgment, and reasoning. Carotid stents are tiny wire-mesh tubes that are inserted through a small puncture in the groin and then threaded through the blood vessels directly into the carotid artery in the neck.

Stroke Treatment Helps Victims Recover Brain Function

The study involved 37 patients and found that 16 patients had improved brain function a year after the stent was implanted, but doctors saw cognitive improvements after three months and the gains continued when patients were again tested at six month and 12-month intervals. Dr. Rodney Raabe, the chief of radiology at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, said that many patients returned to cognitive levels that they thought they had lost. Experts say that the study confirms both what they already have observed and have heard through word of mouth.

Posted by Patricia Bowling at 10:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One in Four Natural Births Causes Brain Hemorrhage

Giving birth naturally causes an increased risk of minor brain hemorrhages in newborn babies, says a new study. Brain scans of babies between the ages of one and five weeks old showed that small ruptures in blood vessels in or around the brain are common in newborns, affecting one in four children. Babies born by caearean section did not show signs of even minor bleeding.

One in four natural births causes brain haemorrhage

In most cases, the hemorrhages are harmless. However, in some cases, larger ruptures affect brain development; this leads to seizures or problems with learning or coordination. John Gilmore, a professor and a lead scientist on the study, said that the bleeding was not caused by the size of the baby's head, the duration of labor, or the use of vacuum or forceps to assist in delivery. Gilmore said that "the bleeds are probably caused by pressure on the skull during delivery." The scientists noticed the high rate of hemorrhages in children who were seen to be at high risk of mental disorders.

Posted by Patricia Bowling at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Motorcyclists Walks from Crash, but Dies from TBI

A motorcyclist who drove away from a crash scene later died from a "massive" brain hemorrhage four hours later. Eric Valentine rode his motorcycle home to his wife, where he told his wife, "dial 999, I think I have an intracranial bleed." Valentine was thrown from his motorcycle after skidding on a build-up of road debris.

Motorcyclist walked away from crash but died of brain injury

The Metropolitan Police Collision experts and Berkshire Coroner, Peter Bedford, said that the blame for Valentine's death lies with the London Borough of Hounslow and Transport for London. The local authority was criticized after it was realized that there are private junctions and slip roads in the borough that go unswept "for years." No one has responsibility for the slip road on which Valentine suffered his accident.

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Choking Game Causes Brain Damage

On October 28, 2006, Carrie Draher walked into her son Levi's room and found his neck caught in a rope sling he had used for Boy Scout rappelling exercises. "My son was dead," she said later of the experience. "He was all blue and purple. There was no pulse, no respiration, no heartbeat." Draher later learned Levi had been playing the "choking game;" players who cut off oxygen to their brain report a brief high as blood returns to the brain.

With the possibility of brain injury and even death, no one wins when youths choke themselves

The choking game has been around forever and according to the Deadly Games Children Play website, it has been responsible for the deaths of a dozen children and teens in Texas and more than 300 kids throughout the U.S. and Canada. Levi has been fortunate to recover as he has after the experience. For the last few months he has undergone physical, cognitive, and behavioral rehabilitation to help with the brain damage he suffered. Doctors believe he was anoxic, with no oxygen, for five minutes, and hypoxic, with limited oxygen, for about 20 minutes. "If I had known you could die doing this, I never would have played the game," Levi says now.

Posted by Patricia Bowling at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

February 28, 2007

California Teenager's Brain Injury a Sobering Story

February 27, 2007

Officials Meet With Activists Angry Over Brain-Damaged Girl's Treatment

February 26, 2007

Teenager Wins £6.6m for Brain Injury

February 23, 2007

TBI Hell

February 22, 2007

Vasectomy-Brain Damage Link?

February 21, 2007

Depression Risk Increases Following Brain Injuries

February 20, 2007

Brain Injured Girl Awarded £5.75 M

February 19, 2007

Female Lacrosse Players At Higher Risk for Injury than Male Players

February 16, 2007

Brain Injury May Stop Smoking

February 15, 2007

The Importance of Bike Helmets

February 14, 2007

Brain Damage Claim Denied

February 13, 2007

Matheny Announces Retirement Due to Post-Concussion Syndrome

February 12, 2007

Recovery Kits Aid Victims of Brain Damage

February 09, 2007

Teacher with Brain Injury Fights Back

February 08, 2007

Man Wins Settlement over Brain Injury

February 07, 2007

Johnson Blames Belichick for Brain Injury

February 06, 2007

Stroke Treatment Helps Victims Recover Brain Function

February 05, 2007

One in Four Natural Births Causes Brain Hemorrhage

February 02, 2007

Motorcyclists Walks from Crash, but Dies from TBI

February 01, 2007

Choking Game Causes Brain Damage