Severe brain damage is one of the worst injuries anyone can sustain, and it occurs everywhere and every day in the United States, including in Oklahoma. People can suffer brain injuries from falls, motor vehicle accidents and contact sports. Once a person sustains such an injury, the next question is whether it will be temporary or permanent. There is no guarantee that a brain injury patient will be able to recover completely or even get close to the level of functioning before the injury even after treatment, therapy and rehabilitation. Because of this, researchers continue to conduct tests to find new methods to reduce the effects of brain injury.
Recently, two studies in Georgia and New York — Protect III and Synapse, respectively –focused on administering the hormone progesterone to brain injury patients. Despite promising results with animals, the hormone showed no positive effects on nearly 900 human patients. According to published study results, patients received progesterone 4 hours after they suffered brain injuries. Six months later, there were no significant effects on patients who were administered the hormone compared to placebos as determined by the Glasgow Coma Scale. Because of the lack of effect, researchers cut the studies short and stopped administering progesterone to another 250 new brain injury patients.
For brain injury patients and their families, they can only hope for the best when it comes to recovering from their injuries. Medical treatments do not always yield great results. Still, no brain injury patient should forgo any treatment that offers the possibility of a return to pre-injury levels of functioning.
People who have sustained brain injuries because of the negligence of others may be able to recover damages that can be used to pay medical and related expenses. Legal advice may help guide them to compensation for their losses.
Source: FOX News, “Progesterone treatment fails to minimize brain trauma, studies find,” Dec. 12, 2014