Traumatic brain injuries are considered risk factors for other neurologic diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy. A recently published, British Journal of Psychiatry article discusses “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a Risk Factor for Dementia.” The researchers from the University College of London, UK, Division of Psychiatry, conducted a meta-analysis searching nine electronic data bases up to October 25, 2019 for longitudinal studies assessing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the risk of dementia. The researchers’ selection criteria was for adults 18 and older with a similar comparison group of adults without any post-traumatic stress disorder. According to the researchers, “we included studies were a diagnosis of PTSD was based upon: (a) clinical diagnostic criteria (i.e. ICD-9 or ICD-10, DSM-III, DSM-IV or DSM-V or comparable), or (b) a validated self-report scale.” Studies that did not diagnose dementia on the basis of clinical criteria (e.g. NINCDS-ADRA) were excluded.

Continue Reading Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a Risk Factor for Dementia

I recently took the deposition of a neuropsychologist who maintained that all patients having sustained a mild traumatic brain injury recover within six months. When presented with recent studies demonstrating the inaccuracy of that opinion, he acknowledged that he was unfamiliar with those studies. Rather, he relied on a 2004 paper by Carroll, et al. and two chapters authored by defense forensic neuropsychologists.

Continue Reading Long Term Post-Concussion Symptoms

I recently was sent an article entitled “Magnetoencephalography for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” published in the Journal of Neuroimaging Clinical North America. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a non-invasive technique for investigating human brain activity. It allows the measurement of ongoing brain activity on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis as it shows where in the brain activity is produced.

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A case study published in the Lancet, Public Health looked at the growing public health concern of homelessness and its relationship with traumatic brain injury.

The systematic review and meta-analysis examined original research studies that reported data on the prevalence or incidence of traumatic brain injury, or the association between traumatic brain injury or one or more health-related or function-related outcome measures.

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In a new report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the CDC reported that suicide is the top cause of deaths tied to traumatic brain injury. The CDC reported there were 61,000 traumatic brain injury linked deaths in 2017 and that nearly half of these deaths were caused by suicide.

Continue Reading CDC Reports Suicide is Top Cause of Death Tied to Traumatic Brain Injury

Experts hired in defense of mild traumatic brain injury claims often allege that mild traumatic brain injury recovery is uneventful in 6 to 12 months. Hearing a defendant’s courtroom doctor testify could lead one to believe that mild traumatic brain injuries are relatively benign and minor.

A new study published in Brain Injury sheds light on the high costs and health-care resources utilized in the first 12 months following a mTBI.

Continue Reading mTBI Recovery: The First Year will be Expensive

Researchers from Melbourne, Australia looked at cognitive reserve and age as factors to predict the cognitive recovery after a mild to severe traumatic brain injury. Recognizing that the persistence of injury-related cognitive impairments can have devastating consequences after traumatic brain injury, the researchers undertook a longitudinal study to examine the long-term cognitive recovery in 109 adults (71% male) experiencing complicated mild-to-severe traumatic brain injury in association with age, pre-mobid intelligence and injury severity (measured by post traumatic amnesia duration).

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A Superior Court of Washington for King County recently upheld the admissibility of diffusion tensor imaging.

In Peach v. RLI Insurance Company, defendants moved to exclude the testimony of Dr. Cyrus Raji and related testimony regarding the admissibility of diffusion tensor imaging. Defendants produced the affidavit of Dean Shibata, M.D. In deciding the motion, utilizing a Frye standard, the Court found as follows:

Continue Reading Another Win for Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)