- February 10, 2024
- Tucker Law
- Personal Injury Lawsuits
Traumatic brain injuries have long been frightening examples of how the average person can change in an instant from high functioning to barely capable of getting through the day. Typically, these injuries cause lifelong disability, and recovery is far from certain. Until recently, medical science had made no major leaps in treating these injuries. However, it has now been discovered that new types of brain implants help traumatic brain injury recovery.
The Story of Gina Arata
An Example of How Brain Implants Help Traumatic Brain Injury Recovery
In 2001, Gina Arata was a college student with plans to enter law school. Unfortunately, those plans were decimated when she suffered a traumatic brain injury in a car accident. She went from getting top scores in her college classes to barely being able to hold a low-level job. Sadly, the disability she suffered from the traumatic brain injury lasted for the better part of two decades. Then she participated in a research project at Stanford Medicine, where a device was implanted deep in her brain. The device stimulated neural connections that hadn’t functioned correctly since her accident.
New Technique Worked Better Than Scientists Predicted
The results were staggering. Arata’s recall improved drastically. Furthermore, the device restored full functionality to her left leg, which had been disabled after the traumatic brain injury. With the implant, Arata can once again read, and she has control over emotions.
Gina Arata joyfully read the novel Where the Crawdads Sing after getting the surgery, and she remembers every bit of it.
Consistent Success With Varied Benefits
A total of five individuals were involved in the clinical trial. While not all of the results were as exceptional as those that Arata experienced, all patients saw improvement in lost mental processing ability. This is particularly meaningful because all five patients had suffered years of lost cognitive abilities before the surgery. Previously, there were very few recovery options for patients with long-term cognitive disability. Scientists determined that the pathways were largely intact but had no meaningful tools to force the brain to use those pathways. This device shows promise.
Placement and Usage
While this level of success is promising, it still creates a significant challenge for physicians. The placement of the device is key to its success. The device must be implanted very precisely. If it is off by even a fraction of a centimeter, it provides almost no benefits, and the varied benefits seen in the five patients are likely connected to how well the device was placed. Furthermore, the device must be continually on for the benefits to continue. Turning the device off for even a moment resulted in Arata forgetting everything she had remembered just moments before.
If you suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident, this technology may help you recover. But even if it is medically approved, it won’t be free. Call Tucker Lawyers PC at (516) 399-2364 to determine whether we can help you get money for medical treatments.
Scientists Never Could Have Imagined This Level of Success
Procedure Ready for the Next Steps
When the scientists who ran this study designed it, they expected a roughly 10% improvement in patients who underwent the therapy. The results from these brain implants were significantly higher than that. The average improvement in speed during testing was over 30%. This was far beyond what anyone expected. The results were so impressive that the researchers had difficulty reversing the process at the end as they had originally intended. Some patients refused to allow the process to be reversed because they weren’t willing to give up the progress they had made.
How to Avoid Traumatic Brain Injuries
While this experiment provides hope for countless people already suffering from traumatic brain injuries, it isn’t on the market yet. Obviously, the best scenario is to never get injured in the first place. Avoiding a traumatic brain injury is part luck, but it also helps to understand what situations present the highest risk of a head injury. Traumatic brain injuries are most common in:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Slip and fall accidents
- Construction accidents.
Knowing that these situations present a danger, you can take appropriate precautions. For example, your chances of suffering a traumatic brain injury decrease when you wear a helmet while riding a bike or motorcycle and use extra caution when walking on snow or ice.
Preventing a serious injury is always better than recovering from one, regardless of how effective the treatment is.
Contact Tucker Lawyers PC After Suffering a Traumatic Brain Injury in New York City
Some day, recovering from a traumatic brain injury may involve just a simple surgery. But until then, this is a debilitating injury that may last a lifetime. Between hospital bills, lost wages, and the loss of quality of life that comes with not being able to communicate well or remember things, the victim of a traumatic brain injury may be eligible to receive hundreds of thousands or even millions in compensation.
If you or a loved one is facing a potential lifetime of suffering, don’t face it alone. Our personal injury lawyers will investigate your case and determine whether you are eligible for compensation. Contact Tucker Lawyers PC at (516) 399-2364 today to discuss your legal options with a personal injury attorney who cares about helping you get the money you need to recover.
Managing Attorney John. J. Tucker, Esq.
John has personally handled thousands of clients who were victims of another’s negligence and fights relentlessly for their rights. John enjoys bringing closure to a client’s matter so that the injured party can move forward with their life. His background enables him to evaluate complex liability related claims and bring resolution to claims in a record time frame. [ Attorney Bio ]