BY UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND ON JANUARY 15, 2015 MENTAL HEALTH
A new paper by researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UM SOM) argues that there is a widespread misunderstanding about the true nature of traumatic brain injury and how it causes chronic degenerative problems.
In a perspective article published in the latest issue of Neurotherapeutics, the two authors – Alan Faden, MD, a neurologist and professor of anesthesiology, and David Loane, PhD, an assistant professor of anesthesiology, propose that chronic brain damage and neuropsychiatric problems after trauma are to a large degree caused by long-term inflammation in the brain. In their view, this inflammation is a key culprit behind the myriad symptoms that have been linked with traumatic brain injury and mild traumatic brain injury, including brain atrophy, depression and cognitive decline.