by brettb on September 2, 2010
Do repeated head injuries or sports-related concussions cause a brain disease that is similar to Lou Gerhig’s disease? Researchers from Boston University seem to think so.
Evidence shows repeated head injuries may be linked to brain diseases
As reported by the Wall Street Journal recently, researchers took a look at the brain and spinal cords of deceased athletes. And what they found was that there was evidence to support the position that multiple head trauma or repeated head injuries – MTBI – was linked to a condition very similar to Lou Gehrig’s disease also known as ALS.
The researchers also determined that with repeated concussions the risk increases for a variety of brain disorders – Alzheimers’s, Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a muscle-wasting disease.
More research is needed, of course, to verify the scientist findings and to explore additional and related issues. However, this information may be useful to doctors and scientists in treating brain injuries in athletes and personal injury victims.
by brettb on August 31, 2010
Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston are urging that Traumatic Brain Injury, also known as TBI or acquired brain injury, be reclassified as a chronic disease and not a singular event.
TBI classification impacts research and funding
And as reported by Science Daily – here is why: a traumatic brain injury is actually not a single event. It is the beginning of a process. It impacts many aspect of an injury victim’s physical, emotional, psychological, and cognitive being. And it impacts their friends and family as well.
This position is not only supported by research it is common sense to anyone who has ever cared for a brain injury patient or family member.
But the importance of the classification resides in far more than a name or label; the label effects the care and nature of the funding and research that goes toward addressing this disease.
Traumatic brain injury impacts and is associated with the following diseases and disorders, according to the researchers:
• Neurological disorders that reduces life expectancy, including epilepsy;
• Neurodegenerative disorders that lead to gradual declines in cognitive function after injury, including Alzheimer’s dementia, Parkinson’s disease;
• A host of neuroendocrine disorders;
• Psychiatric and psychological diseases;
• Non-neurologic disorders, including sexual dysfunction;
Additional funding is required if a potential cure both traumatic brain injury as well as these related disorders is going to be properly researched. Re-classifying traumatic brain injury as a chronic disease may help to provide researchers with those needed resources and opportunities.
