Inside the Brain
Reported July 2005
ST. LOUIS (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- A baby has a stroke and can learn to talk. An adult suffers a stroke and may never be the same. What's the difference? Researchers are developing more effective treatments for stroke patients.
Ryan Timmerman has gone through many ups and downs. When Ryan was born he suffered a stroke. Evonne Timmerman, Ryan's mother, says, "In one minute your child goes from everything is perfect to it falls apart. It's hard."
In five short years, Ryan is almost completely recovered with absolutely no problems with his speech. Pediatric neurologist Bradley Schlaggar, M.D., Ph.D. says, "How they do it, how they recover, people don't know. If we get at that, we might be able to help other kids who don't recover so well, and maybe help adults as well."
Schlaggar, a neurologist from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., is studying healthy child and adult brains and comparing their development to that of a stroke victim.
When you compare a healthy brain to a stroke brain, you can see the brain has re-wired itself and uses more areas to compensate for what was lost. How does it work? Dr. Schlaggar's team is using an fMRI machine to find out if exposure to visual or language cues encourages the brain to heal.
Dr. Schlaggar says, "We could come up with more specific rational interventions, treatments, that are really targeted at the exact problem at hand." And with the discoveries being made, things will continue to look up for stroke victims like Ryan.
Dr. Schlaggar hopes his research will help neurologists better treat their patients and come up with more specific and rational interventions that are targeted to the patient's exact problems.
Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:
American Association of Physicists in Medicine
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
(301) 209-3350
aapm@aapm.org
http://www.aapm.org
Click here to watch the video.
|
This Month's TV Reports
Sonic Golf Club
Using motion sensors and wireless headphones to help golfers "hear" the speed of their swing and improve their game.
Portrait of America
Uncovering the details of the United States in photos 1,000-times larger than the average digital camera image.
Screens of the Future
Changing the way we see our cell phones, digital cameras and even small-screen televisions with OLED.
Robotic Bugs
Sensing walls, corners and obstacles during risky rescues with a roach-inspired robot.
New Combat Helmet
Improving protection for our troops in Iraq by allowing more sounds to enter the ear.
Hi-Tech Captions
Allowing thousands of hearing-impaired patrons to enjoy a baseball game or movie for the very first time.
Back Pain Relief
Eliminating back and sciatica pain for good -- even when surgery doesn't help.
Wireless Wonders
Keeping you wirelessly connected to the Internet better than ever before.
Morphologynet.org
Dissecting frogs on the WWW and pinpointing changes in our environment.
Reducing Airplane Noise
Making the skies near airports quieter with a new landing procedure.
Inside the Brain
Saving stroke victims and helping them speak again.
Prior Reports
|
