New therapy treatment could stop brain trauma seizures
Traumatic brain injuries contribute to nearly thirty percent of injury deaths in country, with some happening months after the initial injury, but a possible development right here in town that could save hundreds of thousands of lives.
Every year in San Antonio 30-40 people end up in a hospital with a traumatic brain injury, but the work being done by Dr Mark Shapiro at UT Health San Antonio could make the effect of those a thing of the past.
“When you get to the ER a simple shot and its like it never happened.” Shapiro said.
Dr. Shapiro has spent the past three years finding a solution for traumatic brain injuries and the effects they can have.
“This can be from falls, this can be from vehicular accidents.” said Shapiro. “Maybe six months later or nine months later they get a seizure.”
Which he learned from a mother describing what happened to her child months after a bicycle fall.
“She was calling her son down to eat breakfast and he didn’t come and she went in his bedroom and he was dead.” Shapiro said.
But a new shot could stop these deadly seizures right in their tracks.
“The mice that were treated with this drug just once, not by taking the drug every day, every week, just once, none of them had a seizure, zero.” Shapiro said.
By managing electrical activity in the brain, Shapiro hopes he can heal, before brains bolt out of control.
“It’s kind of like in a forest fire where maybe a little twig gets thrown on it and a small little fire can turn into a big blaze.” Shapiro said.
The hope for this drug moving forward is to be used in emergency rooms or by first responders, to cut the time from trauma to treatment, and stop seizures resulting from injury.
