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 DANK AAN  

Mensen met een hart voor mensen

Alle mensen die dit project mee mogelijk maken.

 

 

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Een aangepast en multidisciplinair behandeltraject voor patiënten met 'onzichtbare' letsels bestaat niet in België, 

ondanks de grote groep mensen die hierdoor getroffen wordt. 

Fondsen voor wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) en aandoeningen van het autonome zenuwstelsel zijn zo goed als onbestaande. 

Alle studies van de voorbije jaren wijzen op het ontstaan van een cascade van neurohormonale,

axonale en immunitaire dysfuncties:

 

 

TBI is a dynamic process that starts with a primary injury and initiates a cascade of biochemical and cellular changes of repair and injury (Ottens et al., 2006). These changes contribute to cumulative neuronal death over time resulting in secondary injury and long term complications (Loane et al., 2009). Evidence from pathological studies supported the involvement of several immunological and apoptotic pathways in the progress of this neuronal damage (Raghupathi, 2004) including inflammatory responses (Edwin et al. 2011; Loane and Byrnes, 2010; Ziebell et al., 2012), autophagy and activation of proteases (Clark et al., 2008; Knoblach and Faden, 2005), mitochondrial dysfunction (Lifshitz et al., 2004; Mazzeo et al., 2009), oxidative stress, neurotransmitter release, excitotoxicity and changes in intracranial pressure and cerebrovascular circulation (Cemak and Noble-Haeusslein, 2009; Ghajar, 2000; Maas et al., 2008). Since the early manifestation of these changes is biochemical and molecular in nature; it is in the hands of biochemical and molecular testing to detect and assess the severity of TBI as well as to predict the outcome.

 

Secondary to the trauma-induced neuronal degeneration, TBI is associated with long-term

cognitive deficit (Patterson and Holahan, 2012) that can affect up to 15% of mTBI patients (R0e et al., 2009). Eventually, TBI is considered a risk factor for many neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders

including Alzheimer's disease (Jellinget et al., 2001; Lye and Shores, 2000) where neurofibrillary tangles

were detected in the brains of ex-boxers who were subject to mTBI (Tokuda et al., 1991). There is also high comorbidity between TBI and several neuropsychiatric disorders like anxiety, depression, dementia and others

(Deb et al., 1999; Rao and Lyketsos, 2000; van Reekum et al., 2000; Whelan-Goodinson et al., 2010).

The aforementioned occult complications of TBI, in the absence of any FDA approved treatment for TBI

(Narayan et al., 2002), necessitate the detection of diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers to improve

the quality of life and decrease mortality among patients with TBI.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Met oprechte dank aan de VRT,

die de moed had om als eerste in België dit gevoelig onderwerp 3 maand lang te onderzoeken, 

en in het bijzonder aan onderzoeksjournalist Wim Van den Eynde,

criminologe-in-spe Silke Verspecht,

regisseur Alina Kneepkens,

en hun voltallig team,

voor hun professionaliteit, integriteit, respect en boven alles menselijkheid.

 

Bekijk hier de Panorama reportage van VRT journalist Wim Van den Eynde :

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