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A Sexy New Treatment for Traumatic Brain Injury?
ScienceNOW ^ | February 19, 2010 | Greg Miller

Posted on 02/22/2010 6:56:13 PM PST by neverdem

Enlarge Image
sn-braininjury-main.jpg
Get the progesterone! Administering a female hormone shortly after an accident could help prevent brain injury.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Hendrike

SAN DIEGO—The hormone progesterone is best known for its work in the female reproductive system, where it plays various roles in supporting pregnancy. But starting next month, it will be the focus of a phase III clinical trial for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Researchers hope an infusion of progesterone given within a few hours of a car accident or other trauma will help prevent brain damage, said the trial’s principal investigator, David Wright of Emory University in Atlanta. He described the upcoming trial here today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (which publishes ScienceNOW).

The rationale for the trial springs from a chance finding made more than a quarter of century ago. While studying the effects of head injuries in rats, Emory researcher Donald Stein noticed that females had fewer ill effects than did males. Females who were at the progesterone peak of their menstrual cycle did even better. Follow-up studies with other animals also pointed to neuroprotective effects of progesterone, which is present in both the male and the female brain. In recent years, two small clinical trials suggested that progesterone can reduce mortality and disability after TBI in people.

The new trial will provide a sterner test. It aims to enroll 1140 patients at 17 centers across the United States. Each patient will receive an infusion of progesterone starting within 4 hours of his or her injury and lasting 4 days.

Because researchers believe time is of the essence when treating TBI, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a relatively rare “exception to informed consent” for the trial. That means doctors will still be able to administer the hormone even if they are unable to get consent from a patient (who is likely to be unconscious) or an immediate family member within an hour of the patient’s admission to the hospital. In Atlanta, the researchers put up billboards to inform the local community of the trial and established a Web site where people could sign up to be excluded from the trial in the event they suffer a head injury.

Unfortunately, the track record for drug treatments for TBI is not good. Wright estimates that about 50 clinical trials have been conducted to date. All have failed, and at least two were stopped early because they made outcomes even worse. Still, the fact that progesterone seems to act on many different biological pathways may be cause for hope, said Geoffrey Manley, a neurosurgeon at the University of California, San Francisco, one of the centers involved with the new trial. Exactly how the hormone protects the brain is poorly understood, but its effects include suppressing inflammation and preventing injured neurons from self-destructing. “The fact that it’s such a dirty drug may actually be an advantage,” Manley said.



TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Testing
KEYWORDS: health; medicine; progesterone; tbi
Many women with autoimmune diseases have less symptoms when they are pregnant. The inflammatory response can trigger the immune system. This makes some sense. I hope it works.
1 posted on 02/22/2010 6:56:13 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Boy that would be great. Wonder how they even considered progesterone??


2 posted on 02/22/2010 7:03:06 PM PST by hstacey
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To: hstacey

Read the 2nd paragraph.


3 posted on 02/22/2010 7:06:13 PM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem
This is what happens when you get too many female hormones.


4 posted on 02/22/2010 7:10:39 PM PST by mountn man (The pleasure you get from life, is equal to the attitude you put into it.)
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To: neverdem

Will be interesting to see the results.


5 posted on 02/22/2010 7:12:28 PM PST by rangerwife (Proud wife of a Purple Heart Recipient)
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To: airborne

If they good results, they’ll go after spinal cord injuries, IMHO.


6 posted on 02/22/2010 7:27:06 PM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

There are just too many potential jokes here...

Colonel, USAFR


7 posted on 02/22/2010 7:45:38 PM PST by jagusafr (Kill the red lizard, Lord! - nod to C.S. Lewis)
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To: jagusafr

GMTA! I just thought of a few good ones but they’re way too naughty for FR. :)


8 posted on 02/22/2010 7:47:49 PM PST by 668 - Neighbor of the Beast (STOP the Tyrananny State.)
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To: airborne
If they good results, they’ll go after spinal cord injuries, IMHO.

If they get good results, they’ll go after spinal cord injuries, IMHO.

I think errors of omission like that are harder to catch than typos. I assumed the word was there when it wasn't.

9 posted on 02/22/2010 8:15:06 PM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: El Gato; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; Dianna; ...
Survey finds states cutting back on mammograms

Switch: Chickens Afflicted with Human Disease

UW study indicates pandemic bird flu possible [H5N1]

Infections in US hospitals kill 48,000, cost billions: study (Or 99,000)

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.

10 posted on 02/22/2010 11:25:03 PM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: rangerwife

Yes, it will be. I know the article said the treatment has to take place right after a head/brain injury occurs, but with further research, there could be a lot of findings that are good or favorable. I’m interested in TBI issues because my husband sustained one in Iraq and he has permanent damage. Reality is nothing will probably ever change that, but I can hope! And I can hope that others who suffer a TBI (from all this research) in the future do not end up having permanent damage! :)


11 posted on 02/23/2010 6:52:13 PM PST by rangerwife (Proud wife of a Purple Heart Recipient)
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