Public input required before brain injury treatment research beginsRSS Feed

11 January 2010

Research aimed at improving outcomes for patients who suffer traumatic brain injury is to begin after public input in the form of surveys has been received.

The federally funded research is to take the form of a randomised clinical trial which will assess whether the naturally occurring hormone progesterone, when given to patients immediately after a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, will reduce brain damage.

This could, therefore, improve the patients' mental and physical outcomes.

Lori Shutter, associate professor of neurosurgery and neurology and one of the leaders of the study, said: "The nation is becoming increasingly aware of the devastation that traumatic brain injury can have on a person's life."

Ms Shutter went on to say that the possibility of using progesterone for treatment of traumatic brain injury has renewed her and her team's hopes that they "may have something that can improve long-term outcomes".

Public comment is required before the study begins because severe brain injury patients are not able to give consent and relatives or guardians may not be available to grant consent on the patient's behalf.

Meanwhile, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been studying the principle that brain injury could be treated using different colours of light, which can shut down harmful brain activity.

News brought to you by Serious Law specialists in traumatic brain injury ADNFCR-2547-ID-19550491-ADNFCR