UCLA Neurosurgery expert notes war has revealed much more about TBI
"For all of the right reasons, there has been an increase in awareness about traumatic brain injury in soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan," says David Hovda, professor and vice chief of research affairs for UCLA's Division of Neurosurgery and director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center. Hovda has several years experience in treating patients who have suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI) in sports injuries, car accidents and many other situations. Hovda and his neurosurgery team have made a number of breakthroughs in the field of brain injury. Working in cooperation with Walter Reed Naval Medical Center over the last several years, Hovda says treating the soldiers who return from the Iraq war has yielded some interesting revelations. These revelations have redefined TBI beyond sports medicine and car accidents and revealed new ways to treat head injuries from combat. The new research into brain injuries is slowly yielding new treatments. One such revelation is UCLA neurosurgeons are now researching the use of lactate, once thought to be a "waste" chemical of the body, as a possible replacement "fuel" for the brain in the immediate hours after a traumatic brain injury. This lactate infusion replaces glucose, which is the current standard. If they are right, this could change how emergency room physicians and intensive care physicians treat patients with brain injuries in the first critical hours after injury.
