SPORTS (FOOTBALL)-INDUCED BRAIN INJURY

“It’s not dangerous to play with a concussion. You’ve got to sacrifice for the sake of the team. The only way I come out is on a stretcher.” “Our coaches would take us out in a second. So why would we tell them?” High school football players, Springfield, IL NYT

New York Times

MODERATE HYPOTHERMIA FOR MINIMIZING BRAIN AND SPINAL CORD INJURY

Kevin Everett, Buffalo Bills tight end. Potentially lethal injury in game on Sept Fracture dislocation of cervical spine at C3-C4. Immediate immobilization followed quickly by cold therapy and drugs to prevent swelling and cellular damage.

Surgery at the hospital: laminectomy, followed by fixation with 4 screws, 2 small rods. Despite very poor prognosis, he was walking by Christmas.

The treatment is experimental... “I will hang a good portion of my belief in this recovery on cold therapy,” the surgeon, Dr. Andrew Cappuccino, said by phone Friday, “because we don’t normally see this recovery in people with spinal cord injury where cold therapy is absent.” On the ride to the hospital, Cappuccino began cold therapy treatment. He had the ambulance air-conditioning set at the lowest temperature, as Everett received two liters (about two quarts) of ice-cold saline solution intravenously, and called the hospital to prepare a cooling blanket. “There is no specific written protocol” for cold therapy, Cappuccino said. But he said the goal was to lower a patient’s body temperature to reduce inflammation and the destruction of cells in the spinal cord, which can lead to further damage. From article by Matt Higgins, New York Times

Animation at es/2007/09/15/sports/16everett_G FX.jpg Radiant Medical folded on Aug 23, 2007 (less than 3 weeks before this event), due to lack of funding. (