Publications by authors named "Randy S Bell"

Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism prophylaxis is an important part of trauma care. Despite an increased risk of thrombotic complications, the use of venous thrombosis chemoprophylaxis in penetrating traumatic brain injury (pTBI) patients is met with reluctance from neurosurgeons because of concern for the exacerbation of intracerebral hemorrhage. The objective of this study was to provide initial pre-clinical evidence of the effects of Lovenox (LVX) administration following pTBI with significant intracerebral hemorrhage.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study looked at brain injuries caused by things that penetrate the skull and how common they are in people who were hurt, particularly focusing on 73 patients.
  • The researchers compared two imaging tests, CT angiography (CTA) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA), to see which one is better at finding these injuries.
  • They found that many patients had brain blood vessel injuries, and CTA didn't find enough of them, meaning DSA should be used regularly for better diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Best practice guidelines have advanced severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) care; however, there is little that currently informs goals of care decisions and processes despite their importance and frequency. Panelists from the eattle nternational severe traumatic rain njury onsensus onference (SIBICC) participated in a survey consisting of 24 questions. Questions queried use of prognostic calculators, variability in and responsibility for goals of care decisions, and acceptability of neurological outcomes, as well as putative means of improving decisions that might limit care.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered preexisting patient treatment algorithms and referral patterns, which has affected neurosurgical care worldwide. Brain arteriovenous malformations are complex vascular lesions that frequently present with intracerebral hemorrhage. Care for these patients is best performed at large medical centers by specialists with high volumes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Mass casualty incidents (MCIs) due to bombing-related terrorism remain an omnipresent threat to our global society. The aim of this study was to elucidate differences in blast injury patterns between military and civilian victims affected by terrorist bombings.

Methods: An analysis of the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) and a PubMed literature search of casualty reports of bombing attacks from 2010-2020 was performed (main key words: blast injuries/therapy, terrorism, military personnel) with key epidemiological and injury pattern data extracted and statistically analyzed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Medical malpractice lawsuits in the military have been limited for a long time because of a rule called the Feres Doctrine, established in 1950, which says active military members can't sue for malpractice.
  • This rule has been challenged more often recently, as many malpractice cases have been thrown out.
  • In 2020, a new law created a group to review and settle these medical malpractice claims in the military's healthcare system, marking the first big change to the Feres Doctrine in 70 years.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: The advancement of interventional neuroradiology has drastically altered the treatment of stroke and trauma patients. These advancements in first-world hospitals, however, have rarely reached far forward military hospitals due to limitations in expertise and equipment. In an established role III military hospital though, these life-saving procedures can become an important tool in trauma care.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Severe traumatic brain injury has historically been a non-survivable injury. Recent advances in neurosurgical care, however, have demonstrated that these patients not only can survive, but they also can recover functionally when they undergo appropriate cerebral decompression within hours of injury. At the present, general surgeons are deployed further forward than neurosurgeons (Role 2 compared to Role 3) and have been provided with guidelines that stipulate conditions where they may have to perform decompressive craniectomies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of deaths in modern wars, and this study looked at how the US and UK treated TBI differently in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan.
  • The research found that having neurosurgeons available in US military hospitals improved the chances of survival for soldiers with moderate to severe brain injuries.
  • The study suggests that the UK should also send neurosurgeons to their military hospitals to help save more lives, just like the US does.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The text talks about how war affects medicine, especially how doctors treat brain injuries.
  • It focuses on the special field of neurosurgery, which is surgery on the brain.
  • Finally, it highlights new techniques and improvements in treating brain injuries that have come from America's wars in the 21st century.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The objective of the study was to examine long-term neuropsychological outcome after moderate, severe, and penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) in U.S. military service members and veterans (SMVs).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The opioid epidemic is worsening, prompting the Department of Defense and Veterans Health Agency to recommend the elimination of long-acting opioids and benzodiazepines in pain management, leading to changes in postoperative care.
  • A study was conducted on single-level TLIF patients to compare outcomes between those receiving benzodiazepines and long-acting opioids versus those receiving non-benzodiazepine, opioid-sparing medications.
  • Results showed that removing benzodiazepines and long-acting opioids did not change inpatient pain scores but led to reduced opioid use, fewer trigger medications, and shorter hospital stays for patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Exposure to blast overpressure may result in cerebrovascular impairment, including cerebral vasospasm. The mechanisms contributing to this vascular response are unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between blast and functional alterations of the cerebral microcirculation and to investigate potential underlying changes in vascular microstructure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Traumatic brain injury has been called the "signature injury" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the management of severe and penetrating brain injury has evolved considerably based on the experiences of military neurosurgeons. Current guidelines recommend that decompressive hemicraniectomy be performed with large, frontotemporoparietal bone flaps, but practice patterns vary markedly. The following case is illustrative of potential clinical courses, complications, and efforts to salvage inadequately-sized decompressive craniectomies performed for combat-related severe and penetrating brain injury.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

OBJECTIVEThere are limited data concerning the long-term functional outcomes of patients with penetrating brain injury. Reports from civilian cohorts are small because of the high reported mortality rates (as high as 90%). Data from military populations suggest a better prognosis for penetrating brain injury, but previous reports are hampered by analyses that exclude the point of injury.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A catastrophic brain injury is defined as any brain injury that is expected to result in permanent loss of all brain function above the brain stem level. These clinical recommendations will help stabilize the patient so that they may be safely evacuated from theater. In addition to cardiovascular and hemodynamic goals, special attention must be paid to their endocrine dysfunction and its treatment-specifically steroid, insulin and thyroxin (t4) replacement while evaluating for and treating diabetes insipidus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Approximately 4.5% of surgical procedures performed at Role 2 (R2) (forward surgical) and Role 3 (R3) (theater) medical treatment facilities can be classified as neurosurgical. These procedures are foreign to the routine daily practice of the military general surgeon.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endovascular mechanical thrombectomy for stroke patients with large vessel occlusion (LVO) in the anterior circulation has become the standard of care based on several major randomized clinical trials. The successful result reported by these trials constitutes what may be the largest achievement in the history of neurological sciences. However, most of these mechanical thrombectomy trials (except for the multicenter randomized clinical trial of endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke in the Netherlands, i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

OBJECTIVE Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is independently associated with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE). Given the numerous studies of civilian closed-head injury, the Brain Trauma Foundation recommends venous thromboembolism chemoprophylaxis (VTC) after severe TBI. No studies have specifically examined this practice in penetrating brain injury (PBI).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Preoperative embolization via transarterial route is an acceptable adjunct to the treatment of carotid body tumors (CBT). Direct tumor puncture for embolization has been previously described as a safe and feasible option. We revisit this technique and present our initial experience treating CBT via direct puncture.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF