BRAIN REHABILITATION

Figure 1.

The Mayo Clinic Brain Rehabilitation and Research (MCRBRR) programs practice state-of-the-art brain rehabilitation and represent an acknowledged regional and national center of excellence in clinical practice, education, and research. It is the only outpatient Brain Rehabilitation and Vocational program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) in the state or region (see Figure 1). Our program successfully competed for extramural funding as a Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (TBIMS) by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education, in 1996 and is currently in its second consecutive 5-year funding cycle. (See Figure 2 and the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System Web site.)

As a TBIMS Center we contribute to the TBIMS database at the National Data Center, are involved in multi-center collaborative research projects, and carry out Mayo Center-specific research projects. Multiple projects are currently underway, including:

Figure 2.

• Population-based epidemiological survey research, using the Rochester Epidemiology Project (REP), concerning medical services and outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) over the long-term, with particular emphasis on women and the elderly;
• An investigation of rehabilitation pathways and outcome to determine optimally effective clinical programing after TBI;
• A randomized controlled trial of telehealth-based cognitive rehabilitation intervention, assessing treatment effects on emotional and cognitive functioning in individuals following TBI compared to control;
• An REP analysis of cost and utilization of medical services after TBI in Olmsted County;
• A collaborative, prospective multi-center observational study of screening and prophylaxis for deep venous thrombosis in survivors of TBI during inpatient rehabilitation;
• A TBIMS database analysis to determine whether post-traumatic amnesia can be reported as a categorical variable rather than continuous; and
• Development of a novel classification for injury severity after TBI.

Other brain rehabilitation research includes:

• Development of an aged post-acute animal model of stroke that studies motor recovery and the underlying molecular basis of neuroplasticity;
• Using magnetic resonance elastography to study the biomechanical properties of muscle after brain lesions and other rehabilitation conditions;
• A multi-center (national and international) randomized clinical trial studying a simple walking intervention during inpatient stroke rehabilitation; and
• Classification and regression tree analysis of clinical elements that predict outcome after stroke.

The MCRBRR programs integrate National Institutes of Health Research and Training fellows, medical residents, medical students, physical and occupational therapy students, and nursing interns into clinical practice and research programs. Academic productivity and dissemination of our work has been substantial, with numerous recent peer-reviewed publications.

 List of current publications.

Our clinical and research staff frequently present at regional, national, and international meetings and our patient educational materials related to patient and family coping after brain injury have received national recognition.

A list of active protocols can be obtained by contacting the Spine Center research coordinator, Lisa VanOstrand, RN, at 507-266-1179.