Brain injuries are an illusive and increasingly common ailment for which effective treatments are in demand.

Ischemic stroke is a common cause of brain injury affecting more than 600,000 people in the United States each year. Another leading cause of brain injury today is combat. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 1,800 U.S. troops are currently suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

For the first time ever, the military is treating more head injuries than chest or abdominal wounds. Neurologists estimate many more troops are at risk for brain injury -- at least 30 percent of all troops who have engaged in active combat for four months or longer.

These brain injuries can be hidden, coming from the blast waves of IED's (improvised explosive devices) and mortars. When an IED explodes, it generates a powerful wave of high pressure that spreads out at 1,600 feet per second and travels hundreds of yards. These blast waves rattle the brain against the skull, leading to potentially significant neurological injury.

A device called NeuroThera is being tested in clinical trials to treat stroke patients and other patients with brain injuries. The handheld device, about the size of a telephone receiver, delivers high-intensity infrared energy to a patient's head when it's held to the scalp.

The idea is that the infrared energy delivered via laser will stimulate inactive mitochondria in brain cells -- the small bits of protein that serve as power suppliers to cells. Once the energy-starved brain cells start receiving power again from the mitochondria, they should be able to resume function.

For stroke patients, regaining brain cell activity is crucial to recovery. During a typical stroke tens of millions of neurons in the brain die every hour. The NeuroThera works on stroke patients by keeping surrounding brain tissue alive while it's cut off from blood, oxygen and other nutrients because of a blockage from the stroke.

Patients must have a shaved head to receive NeuroThera treatments because hair absorbs a portion of the energy from the laser.

The device is currently being tested at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University Medical Center and three other North Carolina hospitals as part of a national clinical trail sponsored by PhotoThera, the manufacturer of NeuroThera.

An earlier study of the device reported of 120 stroke patients, 70 percent of patients treated with NeuroThera within 24 hours of their stroke improved, compared with 51 percent of patients who were not treated with NeuroThera.

Researchers in North Carolina are hoping to duplicate those results on a much larger scale; their goal is to enroll 660 patients to test NeuroThera.

Additional Resource:

Photothera.com