UCLA neurosurgeons discuss new trends in treatment of traumatic head injury

UCLA Health article
2 min read
WHAT:
Researchers from the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center (BIRC) will discuss their latest research and insights into the treatment of traumatic brain injury, focusing on three specific groups: professional athletes, active-duty military personnel, and children and teenagers. The event will include representatives from the U.S. Department of Defense and the World Boxing Council.
 
Treating brain injuries quickly and effectively can mean the difference between recovery and death or permanent disability. While physicians have long believed that the injured brain lies in a docile state and requires very little energy for recovery, UCLA researchers have found that recovery requires significant amounts of "fuel." Determining what type of fuel — glucose, pyruvate, lactate, ketones or other naturally occurring compounds — works best in which patients is the next step, and the BIRC has been awarded a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue this research on optimal treatments.
  
WHO:
Participants will include:
Dr. Neil Martin, M.D. 
Chair of the UCLA Department of Neurosurgery and co-director of the UCLA Stroke Center
 
David Hovda, Ph.D.
Director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center and professor of neurosurgery
WHEN:
5 p.m., Monday, June 8
 
WHERE:
Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (B-Level), 757 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles 90095 (map)
 
BACKGROUND:
Each year, some 1.5 million Americans suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI) — more than are stricken annually by breast and pediatric cancers, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, HIV/AIDS, and West Nile Virus combined. Despite the numbers, and the trauma and deaths such injuries cause, TBI has received comparatively little media coverage and research funding.
 
MEDIA CONTACT:
Mark Wheeler, Health Sciences Media Relations, 310-794-2265
 
PARKING:
Press should call media contact to arrange parking.
Media Contact:
Mark Wheeler
(310) 794-2265
[email protected]

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Media Contact

Mark Wheeler
(310) 794-2265
[email protected]
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