ATLANTA, Oct. 3 – Giving progesterone to adults with traumatic brain injury can cut their risk of near-term death in half and may improve chances for recovery in patients with less severe injuries, according to researchers here.
Despite the improvement in mortality, survivors who received the hormone and those who received placebo in a randomized phase II clinical trial had generally poor neurologic outcomes at 30 days, they reported in the online edition of Annals of Emergency Medicine.
But progesterone did appear to have a modest neuroprotective effect in patients with moderate traumatic brain injury (Glasgow score 9-12), reported David Wright, M.D., of Emory, and colleagues at Morehouse School of Medicine and Grady Memorial Hospital here.
“We found encouraging evidence that progesterone is safe in the setting of traumatic brain injury, with no evidence of side effects or serious harmful events,” said Dr. Wright. “In addition, we found a 50% reduction in the rate of death in the progesterone-treated group. Furthermore, we found a significant improvement in the functional outcome and level of disability among patients who were enrolled with a moderate brain injury.”
Perhaps DHEA would have similar benefits. It has shown the ability to reduce near term fatalities with strokes and heart attacks. It testosterone had such effects, I suspect that congress would squash anyone that promoted its use.
http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/dh/4224