Bioengineers at Harvard have identified, for the very first time, the mechanism for diffuse axonal injury and explained why cerebral vasospasm is more common in blast-induced brain injuries than in brain injuries typically suffered by civilians.The research addresses two major aspects of traumatic brain injury (TBI), with significant implications for the medical treatment of soldiers wounded by explosions. Two papers, published in the journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and PLoS ONE, provide the most comprehensive explanation to date of how mechanical forces can be translated into subtly disastrous physiological changes within the brain’s neurons and vasculature.
