Brain Injury Blog | Traumatic Brain Injury TBI

On Thursday July 29, 2010, the Senate Appropriations Committee will consider a draft version of a Fiscal Year 2011 Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS) bill. Contained in the bill will be provisions important to people with brain injury including programs authorized through the TBI Act as well as the TBI Model [...]

On Thursday, July 29, 2010, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $732 billion fiscal 2011 spending bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.  The draft bill would provide $169.6 billion in discretionary funding — a $5.9 billion, or 4 percent, increase from the level for the current fiscal year, but [...]

This week, the Senate has taken action to approve HR 1586, which would extend the elevated Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid. The House is expected to vote on the measure next week.
Without an extension, the increased Medicaid funding will expire December 31, 2010, and many states will be forced to make drastic cuts [...]

On Tuesday July 27, 2010, the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS) will consider a draft version of a Fiscal Year 2011 appropriations bill. Contained in the bill will be provisions important to people with brain injury including programs authorized through the TBI Act as well as the [...]

On Tuesday July 27, 2010, the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS) will consider a draft version of the FY11 appropriations bill. Contained in the bill will be provisions important to people with brain injury including programs authorized through the TBI Act as well as the TBI Model [...]

Coping with the negative effects of traumatic brain injury is an important aspect of a person’s ability to rehabilitate, as well as adapt to a changed lifestyle. There are different coping strategies that a patient can use. One is to actively confront a challenge by gathering information, cultivating skills, or changing a situation in order [...]

One of the more disturbing results of traumatic brain injury is that secondary damage can often occur after the initial trauma. Such secondary damage can lower oxygen levels in the brain—making tissue oxygenation through hyperbaric oxygen therapy a potentially promising therapy for traumatic brain injury.
A recent animal study confirmed that a single treatment of hyperbaric [...]

We are now beginning to understand that traumatic brain injury may often include damage to the pituitary gland—a small, pea-sized area of the brain that can easily be sheared or obstructed by the bony cradle it sits in. The result of pituitary gland damage can be hypopituitarism (a condition in which the pituitary gland doesn’t [...]

On Thursday, July 15, 2010, the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies voted to approve a FY2011 draft spending bill.  The bill would provide a total of $738.7 billion, $12.7 billion more than FY2010 levels but $1.5 billion less than the President’s request.  The draft bill contains the funding [...]

It is common perception that alcohol intoxication lowers the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) rating in cases of traumatic brain injury, and is therefore not a reliable rating for intoxicated patients.
In a large study of nearly 500 TBI patients, however, no association was found between alcohol intoxication and GCS score. Only when controlling for injury severity [...]