Brain Injury Facts

Slide Show: Progesterone and Brain Injury

Traumatic Brain Injury 

  • Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke are devastating injuries for which NO effective treatment exists.
  • There are 1.2 million new TBI cases and 50,000 deaths per year.
  • Annual costs from TBI in the U.S. are more than $37 billion per year.
  • At least 5.3 million people have chronic disabilities from TBI, and this number increases daily.
  • TBI kills more young males under 35 than all other diseases combined.
  • TBI is the "signature injury" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The DoD estimates that since 2001 there have been over 241,000 cases of TBI in the military.

Pediatric Brain Injury

  • TBI is a leading cause of death, poor health and disability in children.
  • Every year in the US, TBI in kids causes 7,400 deaths, 60,000 hospitalizations, and 600,000 emergency room visits.
  • Of those children, 50,000 leave the hospital with a permanent disability.

Stroke

  • Stroke is the number three killer in the US, affecting 700,000 people and causing 278,000 deaths per year.
  • Annual costs of stroke are estimated at $51 billion per year.
  • The incidence of stroke rises as the population ages.
  • With the exception of tPA, a clot-dissolving agent, no effective treatments exist.

Neuroblastoma and Other CNS Tumors

  • Brain tumors are the leading cause of solid tumor cancer death in children under 20, now surpassing acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
  • Neuroblastoma is the most common tumor in children under 1 year of age, accounting for about 28% of all cancers diagnosed in European and U.S. infants.
  • Survival for high-risk neuroblastoma patients over 1 year of age remains below 50%.
  • As many as 69% of children survive brain tumors, but they are often left with long-term side effects.
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