11-5-98
											
BRAIN INJURY RESEARCHER SHARES EXPERTISE AT NIH CONFERENCE

	COLUMBUS -- About one in four persons who survive a 
traumatic brain injury will face difficulty in school, work and 
other social situations.

	Some go directly into a rehabilitation program, while others 
go home without further assistance.  It’s only after several 
months that it becomes apparent that symptoms have not cleared or 
have caused more problems, said John Corrigan, professor of 
physical medicine at The Ohio State University.

	Corrigan discussed these issues as one of nearly two dozen 
traumatic brain injury (TBI) experts who spoke to a panel of 
rehabilitation specialists during the latest consensus 
development program sponsored by the National Institutes of 
Health.  The program, which took place Oct. 26-28, focused on the 
rehabilitation of people with TBI.

	“The panel was made up of non-brain injury researchers,” 
Corrigan said, adding that these researchers were experts in 
associated rehabilitation fields.

	“By taking a fresh view of the field, we could assess what 
we know, what we need to know, what we are doing, and what we 
need to be doing.”

	Corrigan’s presentation focused on how the long-term 
symptoms of TBI can affect a person’s functioning in the 
community -- especially how brain injuries hinder a person’s 
quality of life and how they divert people from the life they 
wanted.

	The NIH, located in Bethesda, Md., began the consensus 
development program in 1977.  These conferences have brought 
together biomedical research scientists, practicing physicians, 
consumers and others in an effort to reach general agreement on 
the safety and effectiveness of a given medical technology.

	Recommendations from the TBI panel included increased 
funding for research.  The report also stated that access to 
necessary long-term rehabilitation may be jeopardized by changes 
in payment methods for private insurance and public programs.  
Additionally, mild TBI is significantly under-diagnosed, and 
early intervention is often neglected.

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Contact: John Corrigan, (614) 293-3830; Corrigan.1@osu.edu
Written by Holly Wagner, (614) 292-8310; Wagner.235@osu.edu