Monthly Archives: May 2010
Recommendations for the use of MRI in spinal cord injury
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will generally give a better view of spinal cord injury, as well as any related edema or hemorrhaging, than a CT scan. However, the use of MRI in spinal cord injury has been inconsistent within acute care. Canadian researchers recently put forth some recommendations and guidelines for acute care settings. Their recommendations are as follows:
- There is some evidence that MRI should be provided for all patients with acute spinal cord injury.
- There is good evidence that an MRI should be completed within the acute period following a spinal cord injury (generally 72 hours).
- There is good evidence that the sagittal T2 MRI sequence should be included in all MRI protocols to predict neurological outcome of spinal cord injury at the acute level.
These guidelines should provide clinicians with a basic framework of when and how spinal cord patients should be scanned using MRI. There is evidence that the use of MRI outside of these recommendations may not be as useful or accurate.
Goulet, B, Bozzo A, Marcoux J, Radhakrisna M, & Pelletier J. The roles of magnetic resonance imaging in the management of acute spinal cord injury. Journal of Neurotrauma. (May 2010).
Trends of survival in severe TBI: from the 1800s to now
Over the last 150 years, the mortality rate in severe traumatic brain injury has dropped by nearly 50%. The reasons for this drop are not hard to comprehend—better understanding of the brain, improved therapies, and new technologies have all contributed to more people surviving.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Holds Brain Injury Benchmarking Hearing
On May 5, 2010, The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing examining the efforts of the Department of Veterans Affairs in responding to the rehabilitation needs of veterans with TBI since the passage of the TBI-related provisions as part of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2008. BIAA passed its slot to testify to the Brain Injury Association of Michigan (BIAMI) because of their in-depth involvement with the veteran population in Michigan.
Mike Dabbs, President of BIAMI, testified about the need for an increased public/private partnership between the VA and private health care providers in order to insure that veterans can access the best care possible. For further reading, the full testimony is available on BIAMI’s Web site.
As many of you know, this hearing comes after the Veterans’ Health Care Authorization Act that was cleared last month. Because of the specific language in the bill regarding veterans with brain injury and access to non-VA providers, in which BIAA and the Wounded Warrior Project advocated for tirelessly, BIAA is hopeful that the provisions in the bill as well as the outcomes of the May 5th hearing will serve to dramatically increase access to care for the veteran population across the country.
