Research Updates

Susie Charlifue to chair scientific committee

Susie Charlifue, PhD, research principal investigator in Craig’s research department, has been named chair of the scientific committee of the International Spinal Cord Society where she is also a member of the editorial and education committees. Susie has worked at Craig for 33 years — since 1976. She is a co-principal investigator for the SCI Model System in addition to coordinating several SCI research clinical trials. Since 1990 she has managed and completed six major investigations of aging with SCI in the U.S. and Great Britain. Susie serves on the executive committee of International Data Sets and on the steering committee for the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine. She also serves on the editorial boards for the journals Spinal Cord and Topics in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation, and is a board member of the Colorado Traumatic Brain Injury Trust Fund.

PUSH event raises money for research

The seventh annual Craig Hospital PUSH dinner, held March 6, brought nearly 800 dinner guests to the Denver Marriott Tech Center in support of research in SCI and TBI. Nearly $900,000 was raised this year, bringing the total for the seven years of the event to over $5 million. Research efforts are ongoing at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and here at the University of Colorado. Pictured above is the Craig-Karolinska-University of Colorado research team, left to right: Dr. Tom Balazy, Dr. Eric Sundstrom, Dr. Linda Watkins, Dr. Elizabet Akesson, Dr. Scott Falci, Dr. Ake Seiger, and Dr. Dan Lammertse. For information about these research projects, see craighospital.org.

CRAIG HOSPITAL IS AWARDED A GRANT TO BECOME THE TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY MODEL SYSTEMS NATIONAL DATA AND STATISTICAL CENTER

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) has announced that Craig Hospital has been named as the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems National Data and Statistical Center (TBINDSC). This is a $3.1 million 5-year grant. The TBINDSC is a central resource for researchers and data collectors within the Traumatic Brain Injury Model Systems (TBIMS) program.

The primary purpose of the TBINDSC is to advance medical rehabilitation by increasing the rigor and efficiency of scientific efforts to longitudinally assess the experience of individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI). The TBINDSC provides technical assistance, training, and methodological consultation to 16 TBIMS centers as they collect and analyze longitudinal data from people with TBI in their communities, and as they conduct research toward evidence-based TBI rehabilitation interventions. Craig Hospital has been a NIDRR-designated TBI Model System since 1998.

CRAIG NAMED AGAIN AS “MODEL SYSTEMS CENTER” FOR SPINAL CORD INJURY

Englewood, CO. July 25, 2006. The federal agency NIDRR- the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research has announced that Craig Hospital has once again been designated as a Spinal Cord Injury Model System for the next five years. The designation includes a $2.4 million grant to conduct research on spinal cord injury (SCI).

First designated as a SCI Model System Center in 1974, Craig is one of the only centers in the U.S. to be consecutively named since that time.

The main research project for this next funding cycle is a large randomized controlled clinical trial to study different clinical strategies for patients with tetraplegia (quadriplegia) to wean off of mechanical ventilators. Craig treats a large number of patients on ventilators and weaning is an important goal in improving the lives of these individuals and reducing costs to patients, families, insurance carriers and society. As one of the 14 Model System Centers, Craig will also contribute data to the aggregate National SCI Database in Birmingham, AL. As a long time Model Center, approximately ¼ of the total data in the National SCI database has come from Craig.

Daniel P. Lammertse, M.D. Craig’s Medical Director, and Susan Charlifue, PhD are the SCI Model System Project Co-Directors.

This uninterrupted Model Systems designation since 1974 demonstrates Craig’s continued worldwide leadership in spinal cord injury rehabilitation and research. Craig has also been a NIDRR Model Systems Center in the field of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) since 1998.

Craig Hospital Receives NIH Award to Study Acupuncture

The National Institutes of Health, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has awarded Craig a two year grant to study acupuncture starting in September 2006. The primary purpose of this pilot study is to look at the science and methods of studying acupuncture in a rehabilitation setting. A secondary goal is to evaluate the potential of acupuncture to improve neurological recovery after spinal cord injury.

Participants in the study must be current in-patients at Craig Hospital and be less than six weeks post-spinal cord injury. The Principal Investigator, Dr. Amitabh Jha, says he expects to enroll 30 individuals during 18 months. “As a feasibility study, we are focused on methodological issues and plan to evaluate the possibility of conducting a larger multi-site study to look at treatment effectiveness in the future” says Dr. Jha. Interest in acupuncture in the treatment of SCI has increased in the last decade as more intriguing results have been published by international investigators.

This is the second NIH award to Craig Hospital. The first, awarded in September 2005, is an evaluation of massage to treat pain in people with SCI.

TBI and Female Reproductive Functioning: Craig Hospital Awarded Research Grant

Craig Hospital was awarded a research grant from the Colorado Traumatic Brain Injury Trust Fund titled, “The Impact of TBI on Female Endocrine Functioning.”

David Ripley, MD is the principal investigator for this $50,000, one-year grant.

The study began July 1, 2005 and its objectives include:

• Compare the course of menstrual and reproductive functioning in women before and after traumatic brain injury (TBI);
• Determine if the severity of TBI is associated with duration of amenorrhea;
• Determine if the duration of amenorrhea following TBI is associated with outcome;
• Determine if the duration of amenorrhea is longer after TBI than Spinal Cord Injury (SCI); and
• Determine the feasibility of collecting serial hormonal testing, daily basal temperature, menstrual diaries, demographic, injury severity, and reproductive cycle functioning.

Thirty women, between one and three years post-injury who received rehabilitation after TBI at Craig Hospital, will be interviewed to collect information about menstrual/reproductive functioning and outcomes. Demographic and injury severity data will be abstracted from their medical records. Additionally, five women admitted for inpatient rehabilitation will be recruited to collect serial hormonal levels, daily temperature, menstrual functioning and outcomes information. Data will be analyzed to determine the correlation between injury severity, menstrual functioning, and outcomes. Results of this pilot study will be used to plan a larger study to be submitted to the National Institutes of Health.

“This pilot project will lay the groundwork for future research into the impact of female steroid hormones on recovery following traumatic brain injury,” Dr. Ripley explains. “This has implications for treatment of both men and women. Hopefully, the information will be useful for ultimately identifying new therapies that will help people recover from TBI.

“Additionally, this will be the first project examining the impact of TBI on the function of the female reproductive cycle, an important issue in and of itself for the health of women following TBI.”