A TREATMENT FOR TBI IS GROWING CLOSER

Help for Our Troops is on the Way

 By Agostino von Hassell

December 2009

TBI – traumatic brain injury -- is a tremendous cause of stress, pain and urgency for our troops. They need a cure now. So do civilians.

 The majority of soldiers and civilians who die from TBI injuries do so within hours or a day of a head injury. Most survivors require lengthy, often life-long, care. Their disabilities are caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain in the critical initial hours after the injury.

 Civilians face approximately 1.4 million incidences of TBI in the United States each year. Of those, approximately 300,000 cases can be classified as severe. Fifty percent of survivors suffer major impairment. In fact, TBI is the leading cause of disability among those under age 35, and it leads to 99,000 cases of lasting disability in the United States annually.

 Fortunately, a treatment for TBI is nearing readiness. Soon, it will be available to injured soldiers and in every emergency room around the country.

 A Leading Medical Researcher Developing TBI Treatments

 Dr. Bruce Spiess is one of the foremost medical researchers developing treatments for TBI.

He is affiliated with Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems. There, he directs the Reanimation Engineering Shock Center (VCURES), a consortium of over 60 MD and PhD researchers.

 He and his team have dedicated more than 15 years to developing Oxycyte, a unique and patented perfluorocarbon that serves as an oxygen carrier—delivering oxygen to the brain.

 Until only recently, there were few options to slow or stop the cellular injury that occurs rapidly after trauma to the brain.  Brain tissue swells from the breaking open of cells and blood vessels and the body’s shocked response to the injury, decreasing the amount of blood—and oxygen—delivered to the area. Starved of oxygen, the brain can’t function.

 Dr. Spiess believes that if medical personnel in the ER can keep oxygen flowing to the brain during the initial trauma treatment, many of the long-term brain damage effects can be prevented and disabilities avoided.

 Oxygen Biotherapeutics is the company developing Oxycyte. It is currently testing Oxycyte in clinical trials as a treatment for TBI victims. The U. S. Army and Navy want to make it available to our forces as soon as it is available.

 As a former Marine, a military journalist and supporter of the NYC Marines – a nonprofit organization dedicated to synergizing and coordinating the numerous Marine Corps interests in the New York City area – I also want to make it available to our soldiers.

 What You Should Know

 Here are facts about Oxycyte you should know:

• Oxycyte emulsion has been clinically shown to keep blood flowing to brain cells after a TBI.

• Providing Oxycyte treatment in the first hours after a TBI has been clinically shown to improve survival rates and long-term patient outcomes.

• If Oxycyte were carried by medics and/or available in field hospitals, the effects of long-term brain injury to American Forces who suffer TBI from roadside bombs could be greatly reduced.

• Oxycyte could save billions of dollars over a 10-year period by reducing the overall costs of health care for TBI victims, not just servicemen and -women, but also the 4-year-old who fell off a bike, the 16-year-old skateboarder and the 48-year-old actress who didn't have to die.

As more troops are committed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and as the U.S. healthcare system continues its meltdown, we need to begin reversing TBI statistics. I believe Oxycyte is the best solution.

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