The Department of Defense and National Institutes of Health to Build Traumatic Brain Injury Database

The Department of Defense and the National Institutes of Health have announced a partnership to build a Traumatic Brain Injury focused database. It has been titled The Federal Interagency Traumatic Brain Injury Research (FITBIR) database, it is designed to accelerate comparative effectiveness research on brain injury treatment and diagnosis. It will serve as a central place for new data, link to current databases, and allow valid comparison of results across studies.

The FITBIR database will collect uniform, high-quality data on traumatic brain injuries, including brain imaging scans and neurological test results. The data will be obtained with informed consent and stripped of any patient identifying information in order to protect patient confidentiality. This has been the result of efforts by the government to make taxpayer funded research more broadly available and usable.

Some of the things the database is supposed to aid with are: a system to classify different types of traumatic brain injury; more targeted studies to determine which treatments are effective and for whom and under what conditions; enhanced diagnositc criteria for concussions and milder injuries; predictive markers to identify those at risk of developing conditions that have been linked to traumatic brain injury, such as Alzheimer's disease; clearer understanding of the effects of age, sex, and other medical conditions on injury and recovery; and improved evidence-based guidelines for patient care, fromt he time of injury through rehabilitation. The database will be structured similarly to the National Database on Autism Research.

This database builds upon a larger effort to create a common data element for the study of traumatic brain injuries. Currently, almost 1.7 million people in the U.S. sustain traumatic brain injuries each year from common causes like auto accidents and falls. However, treatments are still limited because each case is highly variable, with different causes, different locations in the brain, and different kinds of damage to brain tissue. This database will help uniformly bring the data together to try to set a treatment plan based on what has worked in previous patients with similar injuries. It will be a great tool for doctors to be able to use comparative anaylysis when determining a treatment plan for those who suffer a traumatic brain injury.

If you are in need of a Myrtle Beach SC traumatic brain injury attorney, Conway lawyer Dirk Derrick at the The Derrick Law Firm has been handling traumatic brain injury cases in Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, and Conway SC for over 23 years. Please call 843-248-7486 today.