October 18th, 2012

The Unlikely Man Behind Football-Slamming Documentary "Head Games" - By Chris Silva, Chicago Buisness

For decades, the concussion problem has been overlooked in professional sports and in particular football, Crain's Chicago Business reports, in a story about the producer behind "Head Games," a documentary featuring experts from Penn Medicine. Douglas Smith, MD, director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair and professor of Neurosurgery, has been working in traumatic brain injury for 20 years. In an interview, he stresses the importance of a remove-from-play protocol in youth sports and the need to have a diagnostic test that can be administered by coaches and administrators who lack extensive medical training. “We need something akin to a pregnancy test: something that's easy to do, obvious right away,” Smith says. “We are working on biomarkers for traumatic brain injury, but I don't know if you'd see them on the sideline. You might have to wait a certain number of hours (for results). So you really need something that's objective to screen people.”

October 18th, 2012

Iron Woman - Lini S. Kadaba, The Inquirer

The Philadelphia Inquirer profiles Penn Neurosurgery patient and traumatic injury survivor Candace Gantt. On Saturday, seven years and three months after her accident, Gantt, 55, will compete in the Beach2Battleship Ironman in Wilmington, N.C. - her first full Ironman, and the most grueling competition (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, 26.2-mile run) she has ever done. "Why her brain repaired itself to the extent that other people's don't, I don't know," says M. Sean Grady, MD, chair of Neurosurgery. He suspects that quick treatment made a difference and perhaps her level of fitness, "but I can't prove it," he says. A video recounting Candace's story is featured.

October 16th, 2012

'Head Games' film brings attention to brain trauma in sports - By Mars Jacobson, The Daily Pennsylvanian

The Daily Pennsylvanian discusses the new documentary, Head Games, noting that scientific research behind the causes and long-term effects of concussions is still in the infancy stage. That is where researchers like Douglas Smith, MD, and others at the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair come in. “We have 25 professors studying traumatic brain injury,” said Smith, professor of Neurosurgery. “This is the biggest and oldest center in the country.” Smith and several other doctors at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine were involved in the “Head Games” documentary.“The movie is a wake-up call,” Smith said. “It doesn’t have enough information to be highly informative but this could be used as an educational platform.”

October 16th, 2012

Candic Gantt, Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair - VIDEO - cbr productions, in conjunction with Rob Parker of Parker Digital

Mom and athlete Candace Gantt was in a death-defying bike accident seven years ago. She competes in her first Ironman Triathlon on Saturday, October 20, 2012.

October 9th, 2012

140 Miles of Grace - By Kim Menard, Penn Medicine News Blog

On July 19th, 2005, Candace suffered a serious brain injury after being struck by a car while riding her bike. Following an extensive hospitalization and surgeries at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, she was back on her bike just 6 months after her accident.

September 21st, 2012

High school football saving brains as game goes on - By Daniel Trotta and Jo Ingles, Reuters

For decades jolts to the head were written off as "getting your bell rung" and considered part of the game. Now, concerns about serious brain injuries have penetrated American football culture and high schools are taking action, Reuters reports. A 2011 study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that survivors of a single traumatic brain injury in young adults can show changes in their brains years later, possibly leading to neurodegenerative disease similar to Alzheimer's.

September 8th, 2012

Research Continues On NFL Players’ Health Issues - By Pat Leob, CBS Philly

As the Eagles start their season, the NFL is giving unprecedented attention to players’ health issues, KYW Radio reports. The League gave the National Institutes of Health $30 million for research on injuries associated with football, like the study that Penn Medicine researchers are conducting on the aftermath of concussions. Leslie Shaw, PhD, professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, is part of a team trying to at least help track the consequences of those hits over time, by identifying biomarkers of the neurodegenerative disease, traumatic encephalopathy, which often strikes former players. Shaw says the study should help athletes, veterans and others too. “That’s why this is so important,” Shaw explained.
Communications placement

June 4th, 2012

Documentary film 'Head Games' focuses on brain trauma - By Jonathan Tamari, Staff Writer, Inquirer

Doug Smith has studied brain trauma for 20 years. For most of that time, the Penn professor of neurosurgery said, injuries such as concussions were called the silent epidemic.

May 16th, 2012

Brain Injury Study: A Single Season of Hits May Harm College Athletes' Ability to Learn - By Catherine Pearson, Huffington Post

Huffington Post reports that just a single season of contact sports can take a toll on college athletes' ability to learn, according to a new study. "This study shows there's not a huge effect overall -- there's not a dramatic effect pre- and post-season," said Douglas Smith, MD, professor of Neurosurgery and director of the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair, who was not involved in the new study. "But there is a small effect in a subgroup of individuals. It raises the question, is there a selective vulnerability for certain individuals? For example, a genetic predisposition?"

May 16th, 2012

Brain damage from IED blasts and football concussions is similar, study showss - By David Brown, Washington Post

Soldiers exposed to roadside bomb blasts and athletes who have suffered repeated concussions show the same long-lasting changes to brain cells, a new study reports.

May 11th, 2012

Junior Seau's death sharpens concussion focus - By Kris B. Mamula, Reporter, Pittsburgh Business Times

The suicide of 43-year-old former National Football League linebacker Junior Seau on May 2 has reignited a debate about the connection between repeated concussions sustained in contact sports and long-term emotional problems such as depression and even suicide, reports the Pittsburgh Business Times. “What we need is a voice of reason,” said Douglas Smith, MD, professor of Neurosurgery and director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair. “There’s a lot of confusion about professional football players.” The paradox of repeat concussion is that not everyone who suffers the injury goes on to develop emotional and dementia-like problems or winds up taking their life, Smith said.

May 4th, 2012

Seau's death re-ignites debate on violent hits - By Jonathan Tamari, Inquirer Staff Writer

The news of Seau's death came hours after debate erupted over the NFL's decision to suspend four players for their roles in a bounty program with the Saints. Seau's death in California, after apparently shooting himself in the chest, according to police, echoed the recent suicides of other former NFL players, including ex-Eagle Andre Waters and former Bear Dave Duerson, who shot himself in the chest last year and asked that his brain be sent to researchers studying the longterm effects of brain injuries.

March 6th, 2012

Severe Brain Injury Warrants Bold Moves - By Todd Neale, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Early, aggressive treatment of patients with severe traumatic brain injury appears to be cost-effective compared with less aggressive approaches, an analytical model showed.

February 12th, 2012

Young athletes growing mindful of concussion danger - By Jonathan Tamari, Inquirer Staff Writer

The debate and discussion over concussions and their consequences have moved beyond the spotlight of professional sports. According to neurologists, that's a good thing.

February 10th, 2012

Stretched to the Breaking Point - Posted by Karen Kreeger for Penn Medicine News Blog

With this year’s Super Bowl setting a record for being the most-viewed show in U.S. television history, concussions – more technically, mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) – have probably been on many a mind this week. TBI has long been a leading cause of death and disability, with over 1.7 million cases in the US alone each year.

January 25th, 2012

A Smack Upside the Head: NHL and NFL concussions get the ink. But your head is on the line, too by By Laura Beil, Photographs by Joshua Scott for Men's Health magazine

MATT MASTRANTUONO REMEMBERS A LOT ABOUT THAT SUNDAY LAST APRIL, BUT NOT THE CRASH. One minute he was guarding his man during an Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Walla Walla, Washington, the disc sailing in his direction. The next thing he knew he was splayed on his back, trying to figure out why that strange guy was standing over him. Turns out, that guy was one of his best friends. "I didn't even know why I was on the ground," says Mastrantuono.

January 23rd, 2012

Kids' brain injuries can cause lingering problems for years, study finds by Linda Carrol of MSNBC

While conventional wisdom is that children have a great capacity to overcome damage from a severe traumatic brain injury, or TBI, because their brains are still developing and “plastic,” a new study shows that many may actually end up with some lasting deficits.

January 3rd, 2012

Dana Foundation Grant to Test Concussion Treatment for Athletes - Penn Medicine Announcement

Peter LeRoux, MD, FACS, associate professor of Neurosurgery in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, was awarded a 3-year, $250,000 Dana Foundation Clinical Neuroscience grant, to conduct a study using branch chain amino acids to treat concussion in athletes.