Traumatic Brain Injury Blog

head

Prevention

September 17, 2020

Damage to the Brain’s Lymphatic System May Explain Why Some Patients Suffer More Serious Consequences from TBI

Studies over the last several years have shown that the lymphatic system serving the brain, located in the membranes covering the brain (the “meninges”) plays an important role in brain injury recovery.

As most people know, the lymphatic system helps to rid the body of toxins and waste, including the byproducts of the body’s immune response to injury. For brain injury this is sometimes described as “damage/danger-associated molecular patterns” – “DAMPs” – such as protein aggregates, necrotic cells, and cellular debris.

Researchers at the University of Virginia, at the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, have released an important study furthering our understanding of the role meningeal lymphatic dysfunction plays in causing some patients to suffer severe and long-lasting impairments following even a “mild” traumatic brain injury (TBI) and helps to explain why these injuries increase the risk for neurodegenerative problems such as Alzheimer’s, ALS and dementia. Read More

February 3, 2015

Safety Helmets and Seatbelts – Key to Protecting Children and Adolescents from Serious Brain Injury

The New England Journal of Medicine has published the most exhaustive analysis to date of brain injury in children and adolescents.  The results reinforce the critical importance of safety helmets for children under 12 and the importance of safety helmets and seatbelts for adolescents.

The data analyzed in the study was from over 40,000 pediatric brain injuries. The most common cause of trauma in children under 12 was falls, often from bicycles.  Motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries and assaults were the most frequent mechanisms of injury among adolescents. Read More

Tagged with: ,