New Jersey Girl Rebounds After Arrow Pierces Her Brain

1 comment

Posted on 31st October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, , ,

Ariana McGuire is doing pretty well for someone who was shot in the face with an arrow.

The Star-Ledger of Newark on Friday did a Page One profile of Ariana, an 8-year-old girl who was accidentally hit by an arrow by a boy who was practicing  archery in a backyard. The arrow entered Ariana’s face beneath her nose and her right eye, and wound up severing a cerebral artery. The arrow landed in the temporal lobe of the girl’s brain.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/somerset_county_girl_recovers.html

That accident took place three months ago, and Ariana is now in the PSE&G Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick undergoing her recovery. She suffered a stroke and an aneurysm from the arrow, and the injury to the left side of her brain robbed her of her ability to talk or control the right side of her body, according to The Ledger.

Today, following eight surgeries and two months of rehab, plucky Ariana is is walking and talking again. 

After the accident doctors had put Ariana in a medically induced coma for two weeks, and took off part of her skull so her swollen brain would have room to expand.

Ariana’s doctors were honest when they were interviewed by The Ledger. Although Ariana has made a lot of progress, she has a long way to go and will likely have permanent side effects from the accident. 

But she has stunned her doctors with the strides she’s made, and will be going home this week.         

Diabetic Wins $17.5 Million For Brain Injuries After Denied Insulin

0 comments

Posted on 21st October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, , ,

 A jury awarded a diabetic man, who suffered severe brain damage after being denied his insulin while incarcerated, Tuesday won a $17.5 million judgment against New York City, the New York Daily News reported.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/10/20/2010-10-20_175m_for_diabetic_denied_insulin_in_jail.html

 Jose Vargas, 43, was so disabled that he was baredly aware that the jury found in his favor, according to the News. He is now confined to a wheelchair and is living in a nursing home.

Vargas was arrested on a drug charge in September 2006 and put in a holding cell. A Type I diabetic, Vargas didn’t have his insulin or needles with him, and police wouldn’t get them for him.

As a result of going without his medication for 60 hours, Vargas had multiple seizures, went into a coma for eight days and was then hospitalized for 30 days.

 Vargas had repeatedly told police that he needed his insulin, and the jury determined that authorities were in violaton of New York’s policy that prisoners be provided with proper medical care.

The city told the News that it plans to appeal the award. 

  

Paralyzed Rutgers Football Player Awaits Prognosis On Spinal Injuries

0 comments

Posted on 19th October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, , , ,

Rutgers University football player Eric LeGrand has been paralyzed from the neck down ever since he crashed into an Army player in a game Saturday. The question now is will the defensive tackle remain immobile.

http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index.ssf/2010/10/paralyzed_rutgers_player_eric.html

 A Page One story in The Star-Ledger Tuesday vividly described the incident that lead to the young player’s spine injury, writing that LeGrand “smashed his helmet, at full speed, into the shoulder of an Army kick returner.” LeGrand’s mother was at the game at the New Meadowlands Stadium, and watched him being injured and carried off the field. 

It was a bad weekend for football head injuries, both college and pro. The story points out that five National Football League players sustained head injuries Sunday, and all five were the result of helmet-to-helmet crashes..     

LeGrand, who is from Avenel, N.J., on Saturday underwent surgery on his spine. His doctors are saying that the first 72 hours after his on-field collision are crucial, and that they must wait for the swelling in his spine to go down before they can fully gauge the extent of his injuries. 

Football players have recovered from spinal injuries similar to LeGrand’s. The New York Times Tuesday has a story about Adam Taliaferro, who injured is spine while playing foorball for Penn State. Doctors never thought Taliaferro  would walk again, but he surprised them and did. He is a lawyer now.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/sports/ncaafootball/19rutgers.html?_r=1&ref=sports

 But LeGrand suffered damage to his C3 and C4 cervical vertebrae, bones that are close to the brain and affect movement. But LeGrand’s coach, Greg Schiano, and his Rutger’s teammates say that he is a fighter and a great athlete, and they expect him to walk again.  

Conference Will Ponder Concussions, Body Checks And Youth Hockey

0 comments

Posted on 18th October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, , ,

The topic of safety and the sport of ice hockey is on the agenda Tuesday at a medical conference at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., according to The New York Times.

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/sports/hockey/18hockey.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

The confab will include representatives spanning the National Hockey League to youth leagues, and they will talk about recommendations meant to lessen the chance of concussions in the oft-violent sport, particularly with the young.

The story, headlined “With Focus on Youth Safety, A Sport Considers Changes,” cites statistics that say that the rate of serious injury for players from 11 to 14 is very high. 

As a result, youth hockey is contemplating delaying the date when body checking is permissible to 13 from 11, according to The Times.

The two-day Mayo conference will have attendees from USA Hockey, Hockey Canada, the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

The Times also named three findings that will be reported at the Mayo conference. They are: Concussions represent 18 percent of all hockey injuries;  women’s hockey has the largest rate of concussions of all NCAA sports; and that the level or concussions for youth players is only slightly less than for NHL players.        

 

Jury Is Still Out On Army’s New Brain Injury Test

3 comments

Posted on 17th October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, , ,

Our national newspaper, USA Today, wrote a story last week about the U.S. Army “discovering” a simple blood test that can diagnose mild traumatic brain injury. The test is described as a huge breakthrough, a potential “milestone in brain-injury care.”  

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/2010-10-15-1Abrain15_ST_N.htm?csp=netvibes

As someone who has spent their career as an advocate for brain injury victims, I have to say that I’m skeptical about all the early claims, hype and optimism about this new test.

The USA Today story said that  this biomarker test, which detects the proteins that are released into the blood stream when the brain sustains damage, correctly identified TBI in 34 patients.    

 The test would be of special importance to the Army, which is trying to cope with a deluge of soldiers who have sustained concussions and other brain damage in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An estimated 300,000 troopes serving on those two fronts have suffered concussions, typically from bombs, according to a study cited by USA Today.

For one, I can’t see how this test would be capable of diagnosing the wide spectrum of injury that has come to be known as MTBI.  The risk of a supposedly miraculous diagnostic tool is that it creates a new myth of certainty about brain damage.

The test is the result of a partnership between the Army and Banyan Biomarkers in Florida, which just won a $26 million grant to do clinical trials on 1,200 patients who have mile to severe brain injury. The tests will run until 2013.
USA Today says that the outcome of the trial will determine whether or not the Food and Drug Administration gives its stamp of approval to the test.
There was one skeptic about the biomarker test quoted by USA Today, Dr. Jeffrey Bazarian. He believes the trial will be flawed if it only includes people admitted to hospitals, since their concussions would be worse than someone with  very mild brain injury who is walking around with no idea they have a concussion.     

 

Chicago Bears Quarterback Jay Cutler Is Benched With Concussion

0 comments

Posted on 9th October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, , ,

A concussion is keeping another pro football player off the field this weekend. 

After getting sacked nine times in last week’s game against the New York Giants, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler won’t be playing in his team’s game against the Panthers Sunday.  

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/eagles/20101008_Bears__Cutler_out_due_to_concussion.html

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Cutler was checked out by the Bear’s team physician, as well as independent doctors, after doing a light practice Wednesday. They decided to bench him for tomorrow’s game. 

Todd Collins will be taking over Cutler’s quarterback duties against the Panthers.   

How Handwriting Can Bolster The Brain

1 comment

Posted on 5th October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, ,

 Maybe those Catholic school nuns were wiser than we thought.

Handwriting is important, a skill that “is a major building block to learning,” according to a story Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_lifestyle

Headlined “How Handwriting Trains The Brain,” the article says that researcher have found that writing by hand “helps  with learning letters and shapes, can improve idea composition and expression, and may aid fine motor-skill development.” That’s what magnetic reasonance testing has determined.

The idea is that Baby Boomers and their kids should not be spending all their day at a keyboard, they should be taking a pen or pencil in hand to write. Some doctors are even convined that as people age, they should do more cursive writing to as a cognitive exercise to keep their minds sharp.

The Journal cited a study by Indiana University that found that children who had practiced handwriting had heightened activity in areas of the brain that involve learning.  

Even adults who study a language with a different alphabet than English, such as Chinese, seem to benefit when they actually write down those new symbols. Those people enjoyed “stronger and longer-lasting recognition of the characters’ proper orientation,” The Journal wrote.

It’s a thought-provoking article. 

Congressional Committees Weigh Two Sports Concussion Bills

1 comment

Posted on 1st October 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Brain Injury

, , , ,

Two Congressional committees a week ago made headway on getting legislation passed that would protect young athletes from the various after effects of concussions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/sports/football/24concussion.html?scp=10&sq=concussions%20and%20NFL&st=cse

In Washington last Thursday the House Energy and Commerce Committee put the finishing touches on its bill, which has been dubbed the Concussion Treatment and Care Tools Act, or Contact Act, according to The New York Times. It is now ready for a vote in the House.

 Under that bill, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius would hold a meeting of brain experts who would suggest national guidelines for dealing with sports concussions in youths ages 5 to 18. One of those guides would establish when an athlete with a concussion can safely return to the field. The bill also permits states to obtain grants to impose the suggested guidelines.

Also Thursday last week, the House Education and Labor Committee conducted its second hearing on the Protecting Student Athletes From Concussion Act, taking testimony from five witesses in D.C. That bill mandates that public schools create their own concussion game plans, and these would have to require that athleted be pulled from play or practice if they are suspected of having a concussion. And they could not resume playing sports unless they were cleared by a medical professional.

One of the education committee’s witnesses was the Rev. Kathy Brearley. Her son, University of Pennsylvania  football player Owen Thomas, committed suicide in the spring. And it was recently discovered tht Brearley had a kind of brain damage that is caused by repetitive head trauman.

His mother testified that at a time when people are suspicious of the government, “I think erring  on the side of caution and giving a baseline from the federal level from a minimum would be helpful. And then the states and school districts themselves can adopt additional cautionary measures.”

 The list of Education Committee witnesses also included Dr. Stanley Herring, who is the team doctor for the Seattle Seahawks and who helped draft Washington State’s model state law on dealing with concussions in sports.

The Contact Act originally provided for millions of dollars for state’s to arrange for neurological testing, but that financing aspect of the bill was stripped out so that the legislation would get to the point where the full House Energy Committee would vote on it.

The committee approved the Contact Act unanimousy, but it still must be approved by the entire House of Representatives and the Senate.