Integrative Medicine in Traumatic Brain Injury.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be a part of conventional medicine. Integrative medicine combines treatment with conventional medical practices and elements of CAM in which there is strong evidence in efficacy and safety. Although there is growing interest in the integrative medical approach in treating the patient population with traumatic brain injury, there is a paucity in high-quality clinical trials supporting its use. This article reviews the background and current clinical data concerning some of the more common CAM interventions.

Structured interview for mild traumatic brain injury after military blast: inter-rater agreement and development of diagnostic algorithm.

The existing gold standard for diagnosing a suspected previous mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is clinical interview. But it is prone to bias, especially for parsing the physical versus psychological effects of traumatic combat events, and its inter-rater reliability is unknown. Several standardized TBI interview instruments have been developed for research use but have similar limitations. Therefore, we developed the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) retrospective concussion diagnostic interview, blast version (VCU rCDI-B), and undertook this cross-sectional study aiming to 1) measure agreement among clinicians' mTBI diagnosis ratings, 2) using clinician consensus develop a fully structured diagnostic algorithm, and 3) assess accuracy of this algorithm in a separate sample. Two samples (n = 66; n = 37) of individuals within 2 years of experiencing blast effects during military deployment underwent semistructured interview regarding their worst blast experience. Five highly trained TBI physicians independently reviewed and interpreted the interview content and gave blinded ratings of whether or not the experience was probably an mTBI. Paired inter-rater reliability was extremely variable, with kappa ranging from 0.194 to 0.825. In sample 1, the physician consensus prevalence of probable mTBI was 84%. Using these diagnosis ratings, an algorithm was developed and refined from the fully structured portion of the VCU rCDI-B. The final algorithm considered certain symptom patterns more specific for mTBI than others. For example, an isolated symptom of "saw stars" was deemed sufficient to indicate mTBI, whereas an isolated symptom of "dazed" was not. The accuracy of this algorithm, when applied against the actual physician consensus in sample 2, was almost perfect (correctly classified = 97%; Cohen's kappa = 0.91). In conclusion, we found that highly trained clinicians often disagree on historical blast-related mTBI determinations. A fully structured interview algorithm was developed from their consensus diagnosis that may serve to enhance diagnostic standardization for clinical research in this population.

Cytotoxic and vasogenic cerebral oedema in traumatic brain injury: assessment with FLAIR and DWI imaging.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Cerebral oedema is a common complication of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The use of Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) imaging in combination with Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) has the potential to distinguish between cytotoxic and vasogenic oedema. This study hypothesized a significant relationship between cytotoxic lesion volume and outcome. RESEARCH DESIGN: This observational study reports on a convenience sample where MRI was obtained for clinical purposes. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Clinical post-TBI FLAIR and DWI images were analysed. For this study, lesions were defined as primarily cytotoxic oedema if the ratio of FLAIR to DWI lesion volume was comparable, defined as a ratio <2. If the ratio of FLAIR to DWI lesion volume was ≥2, oedema was considered predominantly of vasogenic origin. MAIN OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: The sample consisted primarily of males with TBIs whose injury severity ranged from complicated mild to severe. Analysis revealed that both oedema types are common after TBI and both are associated with functional deficits 6 months after injury. CONCLUSIONS: Acute MRI may be useful to assess pathology at the tissue after traumatic brain injury. Clinical trials targeting cytotoxic and vasogenic mechanisms of oedema formation may benefit from using DWI and FLAIR MRI as a means to differentiate the predominant oedema type after TBI.

Functional outcome scales in traumatic brain injury: a comparison of the Glasgow Outcome Scale (Extended) and the Functional Status Examination.

Clinical trials aimed at developing therapies for traumatic brain injury (TBI) require outcome measures that are reliable, validated, and easily administered. The most widely used of these measures, the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and the GOS-Extended (GOS-E), have been criticized as suffering from ceiling effects. In an attempt to develop a more useful and dynamic outcome measure, the Functional Status Examination (FSE) was developed, which grades outcome across 10 functional domains. The FSE has been demonstrated to be reliable and sensitive in monitoring recovery after TBI. This manuscript compares FSE with GOS-E in a cohort of patients with a wide range of injury severities. 177 individuals who survived at least 6 months after TBI were studied. The FSE and GOS-E were administered 6-12 months after injury. FSE and GOS-E scores correlated well with each other. FSE scores were distributed throughout the range, indicating that ceiling and floor effects were not present. Physiologic measures of injury severity (Glasgow Coma Score [GCS]) did not correlate with anatomic measures (Abbreviated Injury Scale [AIS] and Injury Severity Score [ISS]). GCS correlated weakly with both outcome measures, but AIS/ISS did not. We conclude that FSE and GOS-E are reliable outcome measures for TBI survivors, and FSE may offer some advantages over GOS-E due its ability to provide a more detailed description of deficits. The majority of the variance in outcome is not accounted for by currently available measures of injury severity.

Evaluation of seizure-like episodes in survivors of moderate and severe traumatic brain injury.

BACKGROUND: Transient paroxysmal alterations of consciousness or behavior are common sequelae of moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Clinicians caring for patients with such episodes often diagnose them as epileptic seizures, a frequent and well-studied complication of TBI. As it is difficult to confirm this diagnosis, antiepileptic drugs are often used empirically. However, as such therapy is frequently ineffective, we studied the usefulness of prolonged video electroencephalogram (VEEG) monitoring in the clinical management of paroxysmal behaviors in TBI survivors. METHODS: Records of patients referred evaluation in an epilepsy monitoring unit for management of medically intractable epilepsy were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with a documented history of moderate-to-severe brain injury preceding the onset of epilepsy were identified. These patients were studied by simultaneous videotape and scalp electroencephalographic recordings, and the majority also underwent magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychologic studies. RESULTS: Of the 1858 consecutive admissions over a 66-month period, 127 (7%) fulfilled enrollment criteria. VEEG monitoring was conducted for an average of 4.6 days. Monitoring was successful in establishing a diagnosis in 82% of the cases referred: 62% had focal seizures, 6% had generalized seizures, and 33% had psychogenic nonepileptic seizures. Of those with temporal lobe epilepsy, 53% had mesial temporal sclerosis, as shown by magnetic resonance imaging. CONCLUSIONS: VEEG is a useful procedure in the evaluation of TBI survivors with spells. The yield of diagnoses that may alter treatment is substantial. Additionally, mesial temporal sclerosis is associated with TBI. Given the variety of seizure types found in survivors of moderate-to-severe TBI, obtaining specific diagnosis of seizure type by VEEG monitoring impacts treatment options.