Young people with sports-related concussions who return to play too soon risk devastation or death from “second impact syndrome,” according to the new edition of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. The journal details the case of a 23-year-old Indiana man who returned to high school football following a concussion. Six years later, he is wheelchair-bound… Read more »
Recent reports reveal that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was hospitalized for a blood clot that doctors discovered during a follow-up exam related to her recent concussion. Although the location hasn’t been revealed, Secretary Clinton’s blood clot is probably in the leg(s) rather than her brain. This is referred to as deep vein thrombosis… Read more »
Actor Frankie Muniz’s stroke at age 26 spotlights an alarming health trend: Clinicians are seeing more young people having strokes without a clear cause. Historically, stroke was considered a problem for the elderly and increased risk was associated with pre-existing hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and heart disease. Young adults who had strokes often had… Read more »
Stroke may be affecting people at a younger age, according to a recent study published in the journal Neurology. This is not the first study to suggest this unsettling trend and other research has found similar results. The first question to ask is whether stroke in young people only appears to be more common because… Read more »
As many as 13,000 patients may have been exposed to fungal meningitis from tainted spinal steroid injections used to ease back and neck pain, reported the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention. The CDC reported that the company that made the drug began shipping potentially contaminated lots on May 21 and that patients who… Read more »
According to a recent study published in the journal Neurology, eating a moderate amount of chocolate each week may be associated with a lower risk of stroke in men. Study participants who ate the largest amount of chocolate, about one-third of a cup of chocolate chips, had a lower risk of stroke compared to the… Read more »
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) appears to help people with Parkinson’s disease over the long term, according to a recent study published in Neurology. In the study, 159 people with Parkinson’s disease were randomly assigned to deep brain stimulation in either the lobus pallidus interna (GPi) region of the brain or the subthalamic nucleus (STN) region… Read more »
Recently in the news, 26-year-old Jack Osbourne, son of Ozzy and Sharon, announced that he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). While some might think that being diagnosed with MS at 26 is a bit young, the truth is that MS is the most common chronic neurodegenerative disease affecting young people. The peak time a… Read more »
As reported in the news recently, singer Sheryl Crow has been diagnosed with a benign tumor called a meningioma, a tumor that occurs outside of the brain. These tumors grow from the lining of the brain, inside the skull known as the dura mater, making them less severe of a problem than tumors that arise… Read more »
In patients diagnosed with epilepsy, the likelihood that they will continue to have seizures may well depend on their response to the initial anti-seizure medication given after their diagnosis. According to a recent study published in Neurology, researchers found that 50 percent of the people in the study were seizure-free after the first medication they… Read more »
