Daily Archives: June 19, 2011

Brain injury victims may find help from computer technology

Doctors have studied and treated head injury patient for thousands of years. Now, some scientists are looking at computer software that may help treat some of these patients who have suffered a brain injury. Brain injuries can be caused but trauma, surgery, or other causes. A traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be caused by a car accident, battle wound, work injury or an assault. The investigators have teamed up with the United States Department of Defense to research the use of their software programs for retraining and treating TBI patients. The Department of Defense is interested in treatment of soldiers returning from battle who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. However, doctors also note that this research will benefit other head injury victims, regardless of the cause of their brain injury. Neurologists say that a mild traumatic brain injury, sometimes referred to as a concussion, can lead to a post concussion disorder (PCD). A PCD can cause varying symptoms, including memory loss or other cognitive problems, personality changes, mood swings, depression and anxiety. They note that more severe injury can cause similar symptoms with varying degrees of overlap. Researchers will see if the short-term benefits that they have studied so far will translate in to the long-term improvements that accident and injury victims require. Check out this article for more on the computer software treatment of traumatic brain injury patients.