Hundreds of doctors and researchers are gathering in San Diego this weekend for the 12th annual Scripps Health conference on brain injury and rehabilitation.
An estimated 2.5 million Americans sustain a brain injury each year. The vast majority of these are mild concussions. But a significant number are severe enough to require hospitalization.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falls are the leading cause of brain injury. The agency says seniors have the highest rates of brain injury-related hospitalizations and death.
Dr. Michael Lobatz, director of the brain injury rehabilitation program at Scripps Health, said advances in imaging and trauma care have helped to improve outcomes.
“We can now, in a matter of seconds or minutes, get diagnoses of intracranial bleeding, and patients can be rushed to the operating room to relieve pressure in their brain," Lobatz explained.
Lobatz said the brain can remodel itself, even after a serious injury.
“I’ve had the pleasure of treating patients over the last 25 years, and have been amazed at how patients can improve and gain quality of life with proper therapy, and never giving up," he said.
