One new scientific discovery may lead to brand new therapeutics for people with traumatic brain injuries in New York and other states. The discovery involves using a peptide to send drugs to brain areas that are injured. Through this discovery, it may be possible for medical providers to deliver brain injury treatments that ultimately limit how extensive the brain damage will get.
Nearly 2.5 million individuals in the United States suffer a traumatic brain injury every year. These injuries usually result from violence, vehicle crashes and falls. There is no way of repairing the initial injury, but it is possible to minimize the negative impacts of breaking open blood vessels and brain cells that occur in the hours or days following the brain injury.
Right now, acute brain injury interventions aim to stabilize patients. This is done by decreasing the patient’s intracranial pressure as well as maintaining his or her blood flow. However, up to now, no drugs have been approved for stopping the events leading to secondary injury, such as inflammation. The benefit of the newest brain injury treatment discovery is that using a peptide to deliver drugs to the brain allows the drugs to be administered intravenously rather than being directly injected into a patient’s brain, which is an invasive process and can result in complications.
Unfortunately, despite the advances being made in the scientific field, no known cure for traumatic brain injury exists. If a person’s brain injury in New York was caused by another party’s negligence, he or she has the right to file a personal injury claim against that party. Monetary damages — if awarded — may help to cover the ongoing costs of medical treatment required to address a brain injury.
Source: sciencedaily.com, “New technology could deliver drugs to brain injuries“, June 28, 2016
