Cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury after severe head injury and its possible treatment with polyethyleneglycol-superoxide dismutase.

Oxygen radical-mediated mechanisms play a role both in cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury and in traumatic brain injury. Moreover, my work with measurements of cerebral blood flow with the 133Xe method and the stable xenon-computed tomography method and through measurements of arteriovenous difference of oxygen indicates that ischemia and ischemia-reperfusion are also part of traumatic brain injury but only in the first few hours after injury. The contributions of the research laboratories at the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, to the understanding of the role of oxygen free radicals in traumatic brain injury are discussed. Finally, a trial of the oxygen radical scavenger polyethyleneglycol-superoxide dismutase in human beings with severe head injuries show that death and vegetative state occurred twice as often in the 26 patients receiving placebo compared with the group of 26 patients receiving a 10,000 U/kg bolus of polyethyleneglycol-superoxide dismutase (43%, respectively; 20% at three months; P < .03).

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes