Tag Archives: Brain Injury

Brain Injury Patients Have Few Options

In the San Francisco Chronicle today (08/09/15), Nanette Asimov writes about one family’s struggle providing care for their son who sustained a traumatic brain injury in his junior year at UC Berkeley.

To make a long, and tragic, story short, Ms. Asimov explains how the money from a settlement, which was the result of a lawsuit the family filed against the dormitory where their son lived when he suffered a drug overdose, is running out. John Gibson, 26, will have to be moved from his family’s home because of the costs associated with his care.

His family’s choices are not good. Without private insurance or money to cover his costs he will have to go to a facility that accepts Medi-cal and takes brain injury victims. There are not a lot of those.  And, what is even more frustrating for John’s family is that it would actually be cheaper to keep him in his home.

The Gibsons paid $435 per day last year for all of his care. That’s for everything. Medi-cal will pay a facility $691 a day to care for him. But Medi-cal will not pay to keep him in his parents’ home. And, according to the Chronicle, Medi-cal will not cover several of the therapies that he is now receiving that are important to his health and quality of life.

So Medi-cal pays more and the injury victim gets less. This is a terrible scenario for everyone, especially John and his family. But as tragic as it sounds, the Gibsons are actually lucky that they have had the resources to provide John with the care he needs up to this point. Traumatic brain injuries are taking place across the country in epidemic numbers. And the overwhelming majority of those cases involve individuals who do not have insurance or resources to deal with such an injury.

According to the CDC, there are more than 1.5 million traumatic brain injuries treated in emergency rooms annually. The number of actual brain injuries sustained is difficult to determine because many of these injuries are not reported. According to the Brain Injury Association of California, over 350,000 California residents currently suffer from a brain injury.

In the most severe cases such as John’s, California has dedicated far too few resources.

If you would like to learn more about traumatic brain injury, you can visit our resource page here. If you would like to read the article in the Chronicle about John’s injury and his parents ordeal you can do so at the San Francisco Chronicle here.

Brain Injury Study Shows Increased Risk For Dementia

Brain Injury - San Francisco Injury AttorneyA new brain injury study published recently in the journal Neurology and conducted by the military found a 60% increase in the risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia among veterans who had suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Here is how the study was conducted: the medical records of 188,764 veterans from 2000 to 2003 were examined for evidence of dementia. The subjects ranged in ages from 55 and older. Out of the initial number, 1,229 had a TBI diagnosis (i.e., had sustained a traumatic brain injury in the past). And out of that number, 16% developed one of the various forms of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease. Among the group that did not sustain a TBI, the corresponding percentage was 10%.

The data is interesting but not new. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have presented for some time that TBIs lead to an increase risk in dementia. What is troubling about the study is that the researchers did not classify the TBIs in terms of severity – mild, moderate, or sever. And within mild traumatic brain injuries, also known as concussions, there are grades – I, II, and III.

We don’t know if most of those subjects had sever TBIs that may have included serious trauma and even penetration of the skull, or if a significant number had more moderate concussions. This is important for several reasons.

First, while all TBIs are serious and potentially debilitating, MTBIs are much more common and often go underreported by soldiers and athletes and personal injury victims in falls and car accidents. Second, because MTBIs are so much more common, evidence that they lead to an increase risk of dementia would be useful information for parents, athletes, sports trainers, physicians, and manufacturers of safety equipment and automobiles.

If you would like to read more about the study you can do so by clicking here for the LA Times article.

Brain Injury And Homeless Men

New Study: nearly half of homeless men have sustained a past traumatic brain injury.

In San Francisco we have a reputation for many things – beauty, our bridges, our parks, the tech industry, our liberal politics and tolerant views. Unfortunately we also have a reputation for a large homeless population.

We’ve all seen it. We don’t like it. And to San Francisco’s credit, we have tried hard to combat it with compassion and empathy. And thanks to data collected in a new study we may have a new avenue in which to pursue treatment for the homeless.

Researchers have found that 45% of the homeless men they surveyed had sustained a traumatic brain injury or injuries in the past year. The study was recently published in the journal CMAJ Open.

So, why is this important? Because a traumatic brain injury impacts not only cognition and one’s intellect but emotions, sleep, balance, vision, hearing, and psychological well being. And, it can create a vicious cycle in which problems in these areas are aggravated endlessly.

The homeless person that you see exhibiting unruly or aggressive behavior may actually be suffering from the effects of a brain injury. And while homelessness have many causes and is incredibly difficult to address, there are treatments and therapies for brain injuries.

The study was conducted by researchers in trauma and neurosurgery at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. And we do not know if the findings can be applied to other populations like ours here in San Francisco. But we should find out.

If you would like to read more about this study click here for an article on it by Time.

New Brain Mapping Research

Two new brain imaging studies are out this month that show promise for help with traumatic brain injury victims.

In order to fully explore, understand, and treat a complex body part such as the brain, scientist and doctors need a good map.

In other words, one of the problems when someone suffers a brain injury is that doctors don’t have concise and precise map to help them diagnose and treat the injury.

And creating such a map is exactly what scientist are attempting to do as part of the $100 million Brain Initiative announced last year.

The first study presents the most complete mapping of the brain to date. Scientist created this map using the brains of mice and according to media reports it is the first time the connectivity of neurons have been mapped in such detail.

The second study has revealed the developing human brain regarding genetic expression; which genes are responsible for which neurons.

The idea is that if we can pinpoint the genes that impact specific neurons, and we know what those neurons are responsible for, than we can better diagnose and target aspects of the brain for treatment when injured or when symptoms of an illness appear.

If you would like to read more about each study, they can be found by clicking here.

 

New Brain Injury Research

When someone suffers a traumatic brain injury tiny so-called “plaques” in the brain show up on specific types of brain imaging. These plaques are the same plaques that doctors see in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.

And based on a new study researchers believe they may be able to determine why someone who has sustained a head injury suffers from many of the same symptoms and problems as someone with dementia.  

This new research looks at the brains of individuals who died after head injuries as compared to those that did not. The results have been published in the November edition of JAMA Neurology.

The study has been made possible by the use of new brain imaging technology known as positron emission tomography (PET). The imaging looks at amyloid deposits in the brain. And what researchers are finding is that the worse the trauma to the brain, the more deposits are visible. 

What is now left to be done, is use this technology to image the brains of individuals after a head injury and follow these patients to find out if they develop memory related functioning problems later in life.

One of the initial problems, however, is that PET imaging is very expensive and not widely available for individuals after they are involved in an accident.

If you would like to read more about PET imaging or this particular study please visit: http://archneur.jamanetwork.com/journal.aspx

 

Brain Injury Study of Youth Football Players

There are 4.5 million youth and high school students playing football across the country. And very little is known about the risk that concussions and even milder forms of head trauma pose for players’ long-term health.

But new research from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. is attempting to shed light on this subject.

According to researchers the younger the players involved in the game the less likely they are to have adequately trained personnel available for players. And what’s more alarming is that, according to researchers, it is not uncommon for a player who sustains a mild concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), to be sent right back out into the game or practice.

As first reported by MIT Technology Review, the researchers from North Carolina and Virginia have taken a comprehensive look at the relationship between collisions or impacts, and injuries. The ages of the player studied were 6 to 18. The researchers used brain imaging technology, neurological testing, and biomechanics to study the impact of lesser hits on the brains’ of players.

The researchers were able to determine when a player was at risk for a brain injury due to the severity of the impact and/or repetitive hits. What the researchers ultimately want to know, is whether these injuries, even thought they are milder hits that do not qualify as a concussion, can lead to long-term impact on brain function.

We know, for instance, that repetitive concussions – MTBI – make individuals more susceptible to neurological problems later in life. And we know that many of these injuries are very difficult to detect without advance technology. But this research being conducted on these young players is the first time a comprehensive study has been done on the impact of milder hits and what their accumulation over the course of a season might mean for the long-term health of the players.

The data collected by the researchers is still being analyzed. So it is too soon to determine what the researchers’ findings may mean for the sport and to the players that play it. However, when the impact of numerous hits over the course of a season are measured, according to the research, they can add up to a total impact of two or three concussions. Not very comforting data for the millions of parents across the country who have to decide every year whether or not to allow their child to play football.

Using Flipboard to Combat Brain Injury

For those of you who don’t know, Flipboard is a great resource for articles. We get many of our ideas for blog posts from it’s pages. But it can also be a great resource for information regarding the brain and teaching and learning techniques that can assist someone who has suffered from a traumatic brain injury.

Flipboard is designed to be used as an app on your iPad but magazines (collections of articles) can be flipped through on its website as well.

If you have a family member or close friend who has suffered a brain injury and you’re are trying to learn more about how the brain works, learns, and functions, there are entire magazines dedicated to these subjects within the pages of Flipboard.

If you are looking for the best websites for or articles on how the brain works to how brain injured students and non-brain injured students, Flipboard is where we would start.

Best of luck.

 

Brain Injury & Cognitive Rehabilitation

Traumatic brain injury can be a devastating injury. And when someone is involved in a personal injury accident even a concussion or mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) can keep someone from returning to work or school or their to their normal responsibilities.

But cognitive rehabilitation can help an injury victim regain some of the function that they may have lost. And, we know from studies that traumatic brain injury victims who do not receive cognitive therapy stand a much greater likelihood of long-term impairment.

And often cognitive rehabilitation is covered by health insurance when it is necessitated by a personal injury and prescribed by a the patients doctor.

So, if you or a loved one has suffered a brain injury of any sort, talk to your health care provider about cognitive rehabilitation and check your insurance policy to see if it’s covered…and contact us, we’d like to help.

Head Games – Concussion Documentary

Head Games Concussion DocumentaryA new documentary is taking on concussions in sports and the lasting impact they can have on players. The documentary is Head Games (click here for official trailer) and it’s by Filmmaker Steve James who directed Hoop Dreams in 1994.

The documentary looks at the world of youth sports and the incidence of concussions and the impact they are having on sports and athletes.

The film is based on the book by the same name by Chris Nowinski. Chris is a former football player and professional wrestler who sustained several concussions throughout his career in sports. That experience led him to create the Sports Legacy Institute and become the co-director of the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the Boston University School of Medicine.

The book and film not only addresses the rise of concussions in sports but attempt to take on some of the prevailing attitudes about head injuries and how athletes have been expected to handle these injuries in the past.