Patients with epilepsy who underwent brain surgery soon after failing to respond to drug treatment, but who also continued to receive drug therapy, had a lower risk of seizures during the 2nd year of follow-up compared to patients who received drug treatment alone, according to a study in the March 7 issue of JAMA.
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New brain imaging and computer modeling predicts autistic brain activity and behavior
New research from Carnegie Mellon University’s Marcel Just provides an explanation for some of autism’s mysteries from social and communication disorders to restricted interests and gives scientists clear targets for developing intervention and treatment therapies.
Irreversible catastrophic brain hemorrhage after minor injury in a patient on dabigatran
Clinicians from the University of Utah report the death of a patient who received a mild brain injury from a ground-level fall while taking the new anticoagulant dabigatran etexilate for nonvalve related atrial fibrillation. The authors describe the events that led from a mild traumatic brain injury to the man’s death, the largely irreversible dangers of massive hemorrhage from direct thrombin inhibitors such as dabigatran, and the few management options that can be used to counteract this “uncontrollable” bleeding.
Is aggressive treatment of severe traumatic brain injury cost effective?
Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that aggressive treatment of severe traumatic brain injury, which includes invasive monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) and decompressive craniectomy, produces better patient outcomes than less aggressive measures and is cost-effective in patients no matter their ageeven in patients 80 years of age. These important findings can be found in the article “Is aggressive treatment of traumatic brain injury cost-effective? Clinical article,” by Robert Whitmore and colleagues, published online March 6 in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
Physicians order costly, redundant neuroimaging for stroke patients, study says
Neuroimaging for stroke patients may be unnecessarily costly and redundant, contributing to rising costs nationwide for stroke care, according to University of Michigan research.