Health Watch: UVM researchers make strides in diagnosis, treatment of traumatic brain injuries

ST ALBANS, Vt. (WCAX) - Traumatic brain injuries often can’t be seen. Beneath the surface, survivors can struggle with mental health, cognitive function, and physical disabilities. Amy Kemp, a TBI survivor in St. Albans, says her injury causes symptoms that have made working and living independently nearly impossible. A team at the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine is trying to fix that.

“She said, ‘I’m really sorry. You’re not gonna get any better,’” said Amy Kemp, recalling her conversation with doctors following a fall in 2019.

The accident had followed a recovery from several serious concussions from other falls during epileptic seizures and from a car crash. But after the 2019 fall at the library, she says doctors told her the traumatic brain injury would never heal.

“When you hit a softball as hard as you can hit it. When they throw it and you hit it as hard as you can hit it, that’s a sound her head made when she hit the floor,” said Kemp’s husband, Mark, who has become her de facto caretaker. He walks her up the stairs, brings her to the shower, drives her, and cooks every meal.

“I don’t know what I would do without my husband. I said to him many times, ‘You know what? You could have walked,’” Kemp said.

“There was never anything in my mind that I was gonna leave. Are you crazy? I married her, I love her,” Mark said.

Kemp struggles with nausea, vertigo, eating, sight, and other cognitive abilities. It’s hard for her to look at screens, read, and drive. She wants to work but says employers won’t hire her -- a hidden injury can be confusing to people. “So many people don’t want to understand it. I don’t wear a cast on my head. It’s not like a broken arm. This is an invisible injury,” she said.

TBIs happen after a forceful bump, jolt, or blow to the head. They can also happen when an object pierces the skull. Concussions -- a type of TBI -- happen when the head suddenly stops moving and the brain strikes the skull.

“Trauma is actually the most common cause of death and disability and young people -- young being under age 44 -- and TBI among types of traumas is the biggest problem,” said Dr. Kalev Freeman, a researcher with the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine. He says people with TBI can have short attention spans, confusion, dizziness, headaches, all types of different cognitive disabilities. And because the injury is often invisible, he says those with TBI sometimes have trouble confirming their diagnosis. “There can be challenges with insurance companies with disability payments with military veterans.”

While Kemp cannot completely recover from her injuries, many people are able to fully heal. Dr. Freeman is among researchers looking into how to diagnose and treat TBIs faster and better. “We’ve learned that by giving patients fresh plasma after a brain injury, we can restore their blood vessel function,” he said. The UVM lab also developed a new type of blood screening that can determine if there’s a TBI as soon as the injury happens.

“Having a diagnostic test to prove a head injury could actually help the patients obtain access to additional care or insurance or disability coverage. But also in the emergency setting, can help us identify quickly which patients are at the highest risk.”

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