The Brain Trauma Foundation Announces Partnership with Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative
The collaboration aims to improve outcomes from military and civilian traumatic brain injuries.
(Bethesda, MD, April 19, 2024) Top U.S. military and civilian neurosurgeons and neurocritical care specialists are working together in a new partnership to improve traumatic brain injury (TBI) patient outcomes worldwide.
The Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF) and the Military Traumatic Brain Injury Initiative (MTBI2 ) collaboration kicks off a multicenter randomized, phase one, clinical trial and the development of three new clinical TBI practice guidelines. A successful, previous collaboration between the MTBI2 and the BTF to produce new penetrating brain injury guidelines fostered this recent collaboration. The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine will help facilitate this partnership.
“Traumatic brain injury remains one of the biggest problems from the War on Terror and going forward. This partnership will produce military-relevant clinical trials to improve outcomes on the battlefield and bring the expertise of the BTF to produce highly impactful clinical practice guidelines to improve care in civilian and military settings,” said LTC Bradley Dengler, Director of MTBI2 and the Neurosurgery Consultant to the Army Surgeon General.
The clinical trial and TBI guidelines:
The clinical trial will be the first randomized trial in humans to evaluate the efficacy of lumbar spinal fluid drainage in severe TBI patients to reduce brain swelling. Patient enrollment will begin at the University of Kansas Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center this summer.
The three clinical practice guidelines will identify and disseminate best evidence-based practice in the management of TBIs. The first guideline will inform medical personnel in combat and austere environments caring for severe TBI and the second guideline will develop a new readiness assessment and treatment of concussion that will produce objective return to sport or combat criteria. The third guideline will be a new 5th edition of the BTF’s flagship guidelines for the management of severe TBI in adults, which are used world-wide.
The collaboration leadership
In addition to Dr. Dengler, Director of MTBI2 , the collaboration is led by Dr. Jamshid Ghajar, President of the BTF; Dr. Gregory Hawryluk, Medical Director of the BTF and Neurosurgeon at the Cleveland Clinic; and Dr. Halinder S. Mangat, Research Director of the BTF and Neurocritical Care Specialist at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
“Military medicine has a profound influence on civilian trauma and emergency care.” Dr. Gregory Hawryluk added: “Military physicians and surgeons see severe and highly complex injuries rarely encountered in the civilian realm. Civilian practice has thus historically depended highly on the experience and wisdom accrued by the military. This collaboration will combine military knowledge and experience with the infrastructure and influence of the Brain Trauma Foundation. This synergistic relationship is anticipated to improve outcomes from many forms of head injury.”
About the Brain Trauma Foundation:
The Brain Trauma Foundation produced the first clinical practice guidelines of any surgical specialty in 1996. Compliance with BTF guidelines has been shown repeatedly to reduce death from TBI by a dramatic 50%. BTF guidelines have been widely adopted around the world and compliance with them is mandated for U.S. trauma centers in the United States.
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