“ Our results dispute the notion that TBI is a one-time event with a stagnant outcome after a short period of recovery ,”
Issue 34.1 WINTER 2025 meaning it was applied by a computer without regard to the state of the brain .
In a study with 25 epilepsy patients that was published the following year , they monitored brain activity in real time and used closedloop stimulation , applying electrical pulses to the left lateral temporal cortex only when memory was expected to fail . They found a 15 % improvement in the probability of recalling a word from a list .
But the new study specifically focuses on eight people with a history of moderate-to-severe TBI , who were recruited from a larger group of patients undergoing neurosurgical evaluation for epilepsy . Seven of the eight are male , and Diaz-Arrastia says 80 % of people who get hospitalized for traumatic brain injury overall are male .
Kahana emphasizes the importance of addressing TBI-related memory loss , noting , “ These patients are often relatively young and physically healthy , but they face decades of impaired memory and executive function .”
The researchers ’ primary question was whether stimulation could improve memory across entire lists of words when only some words were stimulated , whereas prior studies only considered the effect of stimulation on individual words . Ezzyat says this development is important because “ this suggests that an eventual real-life therapy could provide more generalized memory improvement — not just at the precise moment when stimulation is triggered .”
The study notes that more work remains before this kind of stimulation can be applied in a therapeutic setting , and scientists need to study physiological responses to stimulation to better understand the neural mechanisms behind improved memory performance . Diaz-Arrastia says , “ these are still early days in the field .”
“ I think eventually what we would need ,” he says , “ is a self-contained , implantable system , where you could implant the electrodes into the brain of someone who had a brain injury .” g
Outcomes of TBI Change over Seven Years of Follow-Up
The outcomes of traumatic brain injury ( TBI ) change over seven years after injury , according to a study published online in Neurology .
Benjamin L . Brett , Ph . D ., from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee , and colleagues examined the prevalence of functional , cognitive , and psychiatric change outcomes from one to seven years post-TBI . Data were included from 1,264 patients : 917 with mild TBI ( mTBI ), 193 with moderate-to-severe TBI ( msTBI ), and 154 orthopedic trauma controls ( OTC ). The primary outcome measures were the Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended ( GOSE ), Brief Symptom Inventory-18 ( BSI ), and Self-reported Perceptions of Function Interview .
The researchers found that regardless of TBI severity , functional outcome showed the highest rates of decline ( 29 and 23 percent for mTBI and msTBI , respectively ). When examining all outcomes combined , 21 , 26 , and 16 percent of those with mTBI , msTBI , and OTC , respectively , experienced decline .
In the mTBI group , age and preinjury employment status were associated with functional decline ( relative risk [ RR ], 1.16 per 10 years ; RR , 1.81 for retired / disabled / not working versus full time / part time ). Improvement in functional recovery at two to seven years postinjury was associated with a higher BSI score and GOSE score of 5 to 7 versus 8 ( RRs , 1.11 per 5 points and 2.64 , respectively ).
A greater likelihood of improved psychiatric symptoms in mTBI was seen in association with higher BSI scores and identifying as Black ( RRs , 2.28 and 1.21 , respectively ). For those with msTBI , a greater likelihood of cognitive improvement was seen in association with higher educational attainment ( RR , 2.61 per four years ).
“ Our results dispute the notion that TBI is a one-time event with a stagnant outcome after a short period of recovery ,” Brett said in a statement . g
“ Our results dispute the notion that TBI is a one-time event with a stagnant outcome after a short period of recovery ,”
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