Pediatric Brain Injury
Neurological damage in the pediatric population can be particularly devastating. Because a child’s brain is still developing, often into their late 20s, the damage that takes place during this period can arrest this development process. Despite this possibility, the developing brain still has the chance to compensate for a pediatric brain injury that occurs early in childhood. This dichotomy has made it hard for medical professionals to predict the recovery time following a TBI that occurs in a child. A research that was recently published might help doctors give a more definitive prognosis to families following a pediatric brain injury.
A New Biomarker from the American Academy of Neurology
One of the proposed methods for predicting the recovery process following a traumatic brain injury is to measure a biomarker. A biomarker is something that can be measured to track the recovery process following an injury. Ideally, the level of this biomarker will help doctors predict how long and to what extent someone may recover following a neurological injury.
Currently, it is hard for doctors to tell which children suffering a head injury are going to recover and how quickly they might improve. Because traumatic brain injuries continue to represent one of the leading causes of disability in childhood, it is imperative for doctors and researchers to find a way to address them. The hope is that this biomarker can help doctors do exactly that.
The Study Results on Recoveries Following a Pediatric Brain Injury
The researchers studied close to two dozen children who had suffered severe head injuries in the Los Angeles area. These children sustained head injuries in multiple ways ranging from auto accidents to pedestrian injuries and even falls from skateboards, bikes, and scooters. The children were compared with kids who had not suffered head injuries to look for notable differences. All of these children had individual MRIs at multiple points following head injuries. The children also had EEGs performed, which are used to measure the activity of the brain’s neurons.
The results of the study showed that children who suffered a traumatic brain injury had a slow transfer time between the right and left halves of the brain. This transfer time was measured via the EEG. In contrast, healthy children all had regular transfer times between the right and left halves of the brain. If someone has a slow transfer time, it means that the white matter of his or her brain may have been damaged in the accident. During the recovery process, the transfer times of all of the children were followed. Those with slower transfer times continued to have a cognitive decline. In contrast, those whose transfer times improved were making a recovery.
Application for the Future: Predicting the Recovery Process
Because slower transfer times appear to correlate with a more gradual recovery process, researchers hope that transfer times can be used to predict which children are going to recover following a traumatic brain injury. Children with faster transfer times are more likely to make a recovery.
Furthermore, future studies should look at finding ways to help children improve their transfer times following a traumatic brain injury. By improving transfer times, more children might be able to make a meaningful recovery following a severe neurological injury.
Watch YouTube Video: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Kids. This animated video provides an overview of a traumatic brain injury in children, along with its causes and prevention strategies.
San Francisco Brain Injury Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, a San Francisco Brain Injury Lawyer. Mental health disorders are prominent following a TBI. If a family member has been diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury following an accident, contact me at (415) 805-7284 or (800) 404-5400 for free, friendly advice.
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