Brain Injury Stem Cell Treatment in India
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a public health issue considered one of the major neurological health problems, which can result from motor vehicle accidents, sporting activity, an external force applied directly to the skull, or assaultive behavior. Unlike progressive neurological disease, TBI is typically not part of a degenerative process; however, the effects can be traumatic and can be permanent or cause partial incapacity. Furthermore, TBI is a point of study for regenerative medicine and stem cell therapy; it might be possible to repair the trauma and offer a degree of recovery. “Significant improvement” can be a description made by patients to describe a recovery, but how much improvement or recovery individuals experience varies. Patients and their families and caregivers are always encouraged to temper their expectations about their recovery experience with the knowledge that recovery is different for different people. Cell Cure India offers comprehensive support and stem cell treatment options to treat brain injury in Delhi, India.
According to the CDC in the USA, approximately 2.87 million TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) were reported to have occurred in the USA in 2014. Moreover, in 2014, over 837,000 of almost 3 million incidents of TBI reported were children. It is estimated that 13.5 million Americans are living with some degree of disability due to brain injuries, costing the healthcare system approximately $76.5 billion annually. The CDC reported that more than 288,000 hospitalizations each year are attributed to TBI, even though this is 20 times more than spinal cord injury (SCI) hospitalizations. Across most age groups, falls, vehicular accidents, or blows to the head associated with sports remain the most prominent causes of TBI. TBI is also responsible for approximately 50,000 deaths in a year, which speaks to the serious public health dilemma.
Symptoms of Brain Injury
The effects of brain injuries upon the functioning of the mind and body can be cataclysmic. Patients will often experience changes that can sometimes only be determined by the details of the injury. Some patients may experience mild symptoms and with treatment and adequate rest may be able to fully recover, other patients may experience serious disability that may last for years, and other patients may ultimately die.The biggest part of brain injuries is identifying the symptoms early in order to receive medical treatment quickly and achieve the best possible outcome for recovery.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) will usually show signs of more subtle symptoms that probably worsen with time if left without intervention. Patients with mild TBI usually will present with frequently misplaced items, memory loss, headaches that do not respond to medication or other dizziness or vertigo, and sudden changes in mood such as with depression, as well as a feeling of extreme sleepiness, tiredness, and lethargy that has the ability to impact daily function and quality of life.
Severe traumatic brain injury has more serious symptoms that will risk the life of the patient. Severe symptoms will include some difficulty or complete loss of ability to articulate and speak clearly, vision distortion such as the ability to see double or blurred vision, more extreme symptoms that could include seizures or fits, and more serious cases where the patient may go into a coma greater than 24 hours in duration. Also, there will be changes noted with loss of sensation or numbness in the patient’s extremities, typically in their fingers and toes, all noting serious neurological impairment.
An accurate and swift diagnosis is important because brain injuries are not easily treated.
Types of Brain Injury
A brain injury can be traumatic or non-traumatic, occurring anytime from birth to adulthood and leading to consequences that affect a person’s life. Long-term effects can involve difficulty with communication, mobility, personal care, and cognitive tasks. There are numerous types of brain injuries with very different causes and effects.
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) are caused by external forces to the head, including incidents such as vehicle collisions, falls, assault, or workplace injuries. A case of TBI termed a concussion occurs when the soft tissue of the brain strikes the fixed walls of the skull and creates a disturbance in normal brain function. Edema is the swelling or change in volume in the brain after trauma, which can lead to dangerous increases in pressure as the rigid skull cannot move. A diffuse axonal injury disrupts the axons in the brain but may not present with any major visible bleeding, yet internal pressure can build. An intracranial hematoma, which is a clot of blood, occurs when there is a rupture of a vessel in the brain. Fractures of the skull are relatively rare but can result in significant changes in brain function or lead to infection. Minor fractures to the skull can heal on their own, while larger fractures can require surgical intervention.
Non-traumatic brain injuries are caused internally. Within this category are strokes, brain tumors, brain aneurysms, infections or toxins, or near-drowning incidents. Brain tissue and surrounding locations can develop hemorrhages, occasionally linked with an aneurysm that ruptures. Hypoxic or anoxic type brain injuries are classified as such when there is an interruption or disruption of the oxygen supply to the brain.
Causes of Brain Injury
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) can happen for many reasons, most of which occur in sudden, unpredictable, and serious ways. One of the most common causes is falls. Older adults and children are most at risk of suffering severe head trauma from a fall. Falls from any height can cause significant trauma to the head. For example, someone can fall off a bed, a ladder, or a staircase or slip in the shower and cause head trauma that often warrants a visit to the hospital. Falls are currently documented as the leading cause of TBI globally.
Vehicle collisions are also a significant cause of TBI. Collisions result in brain injuries, either from sudden impacts, jolts to the head, or penetrating injuries. Other parties to a collision, including passengers and pedestrians, are all at a serious risk of TBI. Vehicle collisions frequently result in long-term complications, including memory problems, expressive or receptive speech issues, loss of coordination, or permanent disability.
Violence is also recognized as causing TBI from the use of firearms, domestic violence, and child abuse, all resulting in severe head injury. These injuries can be either fatal or result in variable degrees of neurological injuries, frequently requiring emergency treatment and inpatient rehabilitation, often followed by outpatient therapy for emotional recovery and continued physical rehabilitation.
Finally, extreme or adventure sports can put a participant at risk for traumatic brain injury. Skiing, diving, climbing, and numerous fast-moving pursuits put participants at risk for accidents that will cause head trauma. Careful and accurate precautions and safety plans must always be employed to minimize the risk of TBI.
Diagnosis of Brain Injury
In the case of trauma to the brain, transportation to an emergency department will be initiated quickly, and expert medical staff will need to assess the injury as soon as possible. The next tests may be done to assess the severity of the brain injury.
- Glasgow coma scale: This is a 15-question test that helps a doctor or other emergency staff determine the initial severity of a brain injury by evaluating the person’s instructions and movement of their eyes and limbs.
- Computerized tomography (CT) scan: In this test, a series of x-rays is performed in order to get a detailed view of the brain. Utilizing this information, they will check for fractures or internal bleeding of the brain (hemorrhage), bruised brain tissue (contusions), blood clots (hematomas), and swelling of the brain tissue.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): In MRI, a detailed view of the brain is obtained using powerful radio waves and magnets. An MRI may often be scheduled after a patient has stabilized.
Treatment of Brain Injury
Recent research has uncovered that umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into neurons and neovascularize (formation of blood vessels) immunomodulation when injected into the damaged area, thereby relieving symptoms and prolonging life. Steroids and other disease-modifying drugs cannot manage all of the symptoms and are targeted to specific symptoms only. Furthermore, also, the issues of drugs having critical side effects exist. With MSC treatment there are no such concerns.
FAQs
1. What is a traumatic brain injury (TBI)?
A TBI is damage to the brain due to an external force (i.e., fall, motor vehicle accident, being a victim of violence, sports injuries) with a wide spectrum from mild to severe and can result in permanent disability or worse, death.
2. How can stem cell therapy help after a brain injury?
Stem cell therapy provides support to the damaged brain tissue and enables existing neurons to repair themselves and facilitates brain function in areas such as memory, coordination, speech, and mobility. Stem cell therapy also limits the degradation of the injured brain tissue as opposed to traditional forms of treatment, which can accelerate the degeneration of the injured brain.
3. Who is eligible for the brain injury stem cell treatment?
Patients with mild to severe TBI or those who have long-term effects such as memory loss, paralysis, speaking problems, or problems with balance may be candidates for stem cell therapy after evaluation by a physician.
4. Why India for brain injury stem cell therapy?
India provides modern hospitals with trained doctors and advanced methods for stem cell therapies that are comparatively inexpensive with individualized rehabilitation programs following the stem cell therapies in India. Thus, India is a well-situated country for leading-edge brain injury treatment.