‘BOOST-3’ Trial Seeks to Improve Outcomes After Severe TBI

Brain 3

(Michigan Health Lab) – An estimated 2.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury, or TBI, each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Severe TBI contributes to 30 percent of all injury-related deaths, and many who survive are left permanently disabled.

“Of the nearly 300,000 hospital admissions annually for TBI, about 40 percent are classified as severe,” says William Barsan, M.D., a professor of emergency medicine at Michigan Medicine.

“Unfortunately, less than 20 percent of patients with a severe TBI make a good recovery — and many are left with lifelong disabilities and medical needs.”

Barsan is one of the principal investigators of an ongoing emergency department clinical trial, Brain Oxygen Optimization in Severe TBI, Phase 3 (BOOST-3), which aims to improve outcomes for severe TBI patients. CONTINUE