THE INCREDIBLE CHALLENGE OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
By Don C. Reed
Among young people, Traumatic Brain Injury Injury (TBI) (1) is the largest cause of death and disability. Among the old, TBI is also very common, more than cancers of the brain, breast, colon, lung and prostate — put together. Like a bullet fired into a super-computer, the damage can be devastating.
Every year, 1.7 million new cases of TBI occur, at a financial cost of $60 billion.
The condition is brutal: “TBI is caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head that disrupts the normal function of the brain: resulting in emotional, mental, movement, and memory problems.” (2)
There are as yet no healing treatments — but the California stem cell program (offficially the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, CIRM) is involved in the fight for remediation and cure.
For instance, Dr. Brian Cummings is hard at work at the University of California at Irvine, one of the top neurological institutions in America. (3)
Dr. Cummings’ approach will be to blend Neurological Stem Cells (NSCs) with the patient’s injured tissue.
This may allow patients to improve “memory (and) movement…increasing independence and lessening patient care needs.”(4)
I am neither scientist nor doctor, just a long-term supporter of medical research. But of one thing I am positive. If we want cure, we must pay for it.
That’s why California developed ( and renewed) our magnificent stem cell program — to hopefully benefit Republicans, Independents and Democrats alike.
It is also why the far larger National Institutes of Health must be protected. We are fighting against every chronic disease — and that means every scientific weapon at our disposal.
1. https://www.cirm.ca.gov/sites/default/files/files/agenda/Letter%20to%20the%20Board%20TRAN-11548.pdf
2. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/traumatic-brain-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20378557
3. https://www.cirm.ca.gov/our-progress/people/brian-j-cummings/