Brain Injury/Rehabilitation
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major health problem. Recent data shows that, on average, approximately 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a leading cause of injury-related death and disability, and those with even mild TBI may experience long-term changes that affect their thinking, sensation, language and emotions.
At The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), clinicians and researchers are studying how to improve outcomes for patients with TBI and other types of brain injuries. Faculty members also are exploring new ways to facilitate rehabilitation after an injury. Much of this work is being done in collaboration with Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.
View a list of UTHealth specialists who are available for interviews.
UTHealth studies cord blood stem cells for pediatric traumatic brain injury
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has begun enrollment for the first Phase I safety study approved by the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the use of a child’s own umbilical cord blood stem cells for traumatic brain injury in children. The study is being performed in conjunction with Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, UTHealth’s primary children’s teaching hospital.
UTHealth part of major NIH study on brain cooling and stroke
Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) are part of the largest clinical trial to date of hypothermia (brain cooling) for stroke. The $1.1 million study is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.
UTHealth enrolls first patient in stem cell study for stroke
For the first time in the United States, a stroke patient has been intravenously injected with his own bone marrow stem cells as part of a research trial at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
Roland “Bud” Henrich, 61, was transferred to Memorial Hermann – Texas Medical Center on March 25 after suffering a stroke while working on his farm in Liberty. He arrived too late to receive tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), the only treatment for ischemic strokes. He became the first patient in the trial.
Rehab robots engineered to help stroke patients
While they don’t look like R2-D2 or the other robotic stars of the silver screen, assistive robotic devices being designed to help stroke and spinal cord injury survivors with rehabilitation could be an even bigger hit.
The prototypes are armed with a scissor-like claw that can perform a variety of functions, including moving a glass of water or snatching a pen off the floor.
New UT Chancellor's Health Fellow to tackle disability issues
Kenneth I. Shine, M.D., executive vice chancellor for health affairs for The University of Texas System, has appointed disability rights champion Lex Frieden to take on the challenge of enhancing the lives of the 2.8 million Texans with disabilities. Frieden’s one-year appointment as the Chancellor’s Health Fellow on Disability was effective Dec. 1.
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