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DALLAS, TX – On February 5, 2011 the Sarah Jane Brain Project presented the Pediatric Acquired Brain Injury Plan (PABI) at the Super Sports Medical Conference. The conference was hosted by Department of Orthopeadic Surgery and the Office of Continuing Medical Education at University of Texas Southwestern. In addition to discussing the PABI plan, the panel tackled the often asked question of “How Do We Prevent, Identify and Treat Concussions In Youth?”
Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD, Founder and Director, Center for BrainHealth; Dee Wyly Distinguished Professor in BrainHealth, and Professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas moderated the event. Dr. Chapman commented that “60% of concussions go undetected’ and how scary that is for youth in America. Robert J. Dimeff, MD is a Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery, Pediatrics, and Family & Community Medicine; Director, Primary Care Sports Medicine, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center. Dr. Dimeff pointed out that “sports concussions symptoms are so variable” based on the individual and the fact that “athletes constantly lie about their symptoms” further complicates the diagnosis of concussions
Patrick Donohue, Founder of the Sarah Jane Brain Project, spoke about how fragmented the data on pediatric brain injury is and how he hopes the PABI plan will help compile medical records and information that could spur a medical breakthrough. Pointing out how big of an issue pediatric brain injury is Patrick stated, “Every 40 seconds an American youth enters the emergency room due to brain injury.” Lori G. Cook, PhD, CCC-SLP is the Head of Pediatric Brain Injury Programs, Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Cook said that after a brain injury in youth occurs we want to “communicate to the families the importance of long term monitoring.” She also pointed out that it is often “new learning that is greatly impacted because of a brain injury.”
Shane Miller, MD of the Sports Medicine Center at Children’s Medical Center of Dallas; Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics and Pediatrics, at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. As a pediatrician Dr. Miller commented that “pediatrics is based on the principal of prevention” and “education is the single most important thing we can do” to prevent brain injuries. Pamela J. Okada,/b>, MD is an emergency medicine physician, Children’s Medical Center of Dallas; and Associate Professor of Pediatrics, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. Okada works in emergency care and commented that currently “there is no standard of care for treatment of children” who have suffered a brain injury. Creating a standard of care is one of the goals of the Sarah Jane Brain Project.
Duke Samson, MD – Professor and Chairman, Department of Neurological Surgery; Smith Distinguished Chair in Neurological Surgery; Kimberley Clark Distinguished Chair in Mobility Research, at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. After commenting on the eight concussions he experienced while playing football at Stanford, Dr. Samson concluded that “the more we know about concussive brain injury the better we can handle the effects.”