Brain Injury Center

Brain Injury News

The latest research, discoveries and treatments from the Brain Injury Center at Boston Children's Hospital. 

Concussion: Evolving Science, Evolving Practice

Medicine’s understanding of concussion has evolved substantially over the past few decades. It is now clearly identified as a true brain injury, and injuries previously identified as minor are now recognized to have major impacts—short- and long-term.

Among the lessons learned is that the existing grading scales for concussion are not useful. Instead, a new special report from the Boston Children’s Hospital Brain Injury Center recommends individual management based on the patient’s age and multiple other factors affecting outcome. The complimentary report covers management, neurocognitive testing, treatment options and experimental data from animal models of concussion. 

Sports Concussion in Children: Time to Take Notice

A series of review articles edited by Robert Tasker, MD, of the Brain Injury Center and Neurologist-in-Chief Scott Pomeroy, MD, PhD, sound an alarm about sports-related pediatric concussion and offer practical guidance.

The reviews, comprising the November 12, 2012 edition of Current Opinion in Pediatrics, cover concussion epidemiology, neuropsychological evaluation, symptom management, postconcussion syndrome, field studies of head impacts and MRI brain findings. 

 Other news

• Boston Children's Sports Concussion Clinic director William Meehan, MD, delivered a lecture, "Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Sports-Related Concussion," at the 2011 "Brain Trauma and the Athlete" conference on October 28. The conference was presented by the Boston University School of Medicine and the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, in conjunction with the Brain Injury Association of Massachusetts and the Sports Legacy Institute.
   
• William Meehan, MD, director of Boston Children's Sports Concussion Clinic, spoke about his book, Kids, Sports and Concussion, as part of Mayor Thomas Menino's ReadBoston celebrity author series on September 19, 2011.
   
• Brain Injury Center director Mark Proctor, MD, hosted a live webcast, "Tackling Concussions Head-On", on September 12, 2011. The program—which also featured several other Children's experts—covered a range of topics, including why concussions are difficult to diagnose, the importance of neurocognitive testing and how to take preventive measures. You can now view the webcast on demand. 
   
• Mark Proctor, MD, director of the Brain Injury Center at Boston Children's and chair of the ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention Foundation, was awarded a Presidential Citation from the Michigan State Medical Societ in July 2011.
   
• Lise Nigrovic, MD, MPH, of Boston Children's  Division of Emergency Medicine, co-led a major multi-center study that yielded a key revelation: implementing a brief period of observation after a child's head injury can cut down on the number of unnecessary CT scans by as much as 50 percent—without compromising care. Read more about the study.
   
• Research co-led by Boston Children's neurologist Alexander Rotenberg, MD, PhD, has uncovered a link between head trauma in military veterans and the onset of epilepsy. Learn more.
   
• Boston Children's has been named National Lead Center for the Prevention of Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury (PABI) and the Massachusetts Lead Center for PABI by the Sarah Jane Brain Project (SJBP), a national organization focused on the prevention and treatment of acquired brain injury in children. Learn more.