TITLE:
Androgens, Male Hypogonadism and Traumatic Brain Injury
AUTHORS:
Alexandre Hohl, Marcelo Fernando Ronsoni, Simone van de Sande-Lee, Fábio Cavalcanti de Faria Vieira, Marcelo Libório Schwarzbold, Alexandre Paim Diaz, Roger Walz
KEYWORDS:
Traumatic Brain Injury; Androgens; Male; Hypogonadism; Treatment
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
24,
2014
ABSTRACT: Traumatic brain injury
(TBI) is a worldwide public health problem. Populations with a growing number
of vehicles are experiencing many traumas and accidents. The highest-risk group is young men. Significant advances in
neurosurgery and intensive therapy have resulted in increased survival rates of
TBI patients. These higher survival rates, in turn, have led to an increasingly
higher number of patients with neurological, cognitive, clinical, and social
problems. This lack of knowledge about TBI has been called by some “the silent
epidemic”. In recent years, studies of patients with moderate and severe TBI are increasing. Glasgow Coma Scale ≤ 8 and
abnormal pupils at admission are used to determine the prognosis of patients with moderate or severe TBI. Several biomarkers such as
interleukins, thiobarbituric acid reactive species, and some hormones have been
studied in an effort to
aid prognosis. Testosterone plays a key role in men. Thus, an understanding of androgens in TBI is essential to follow these survivors of head trauma. This review will discuss the
epidemiology of TBI, its association with male hypogonadism, and possible
treatments.