Traumatic brain injury damage reduced by a hypertension drug

Many California residents have sustained a traumatic brain injury after an accident. Inflammation of the brain immediately occurs and continues to cause damage well after the impact. The treatment for this kind of injury has been supportive care and rehabilitation because there was no known way to slow the inflammation. A new study done on mice, however, has discovered that a high blood pressure medicine reduces the inflammatory response of the body.

The study was done at the Georgetown University Medical Center, and it was found that a protein produced in the liver after a traumatic brain injury causes major inflammation in the brain. A hypertension drug called telmisartan blocked the production of a molecule necessary to produce the protein responsible for the brain inflammation in mice. Candesartan, another high blood pressure medicine, was also found to be beneficial hours after the injury.

Brain injury leads to reduced blood flow and nerve cell death. After an accident, it could take a while for a patient to get treatment in the emergency room. It is helpful for clinicians to know that hours after the brain injury, these drugs still decrease brain inflammation, which reduces the damage that would otherwise occur.

A person who has received a traumatic brain injury as a result of the negligence of another, such as an impaired or distracted motorist, may want to consult with an attorney in order to determine the available methods of receiving compensation. In some cases, it may be advisable to file a personal injury lawsuit against the responsible driver that would seek damages for medical expenses and other losses that have been incurred by the victim.

Source: Medical News Today, “Hypertension drug reduces inflammation from traumatic brain injury”, MNT, Sept. 21, 2015