In North Carolina, car accident victims often suffer traumatic brain injuries, but doctors have identified a female sex hormone that may help treat injuries to the brain.

Doctors believe that the sex hormone progesterone may have protective benefits in the treatment of brain injuries. The chemical may help protect the brain by reducing swelling and improving mental recovery.

Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of death among people age 45 and under and is a major cause of disability. Severe trauma to the head causes the brain to swell, which causes brain cells to die. The result is that many victims suffer permanent brain damage or worse.

Currently, there is no drug treatment that effectively addresses traumatic brain injury; however, doctors believe progesterone may be a useful tool. In women, progesterone helps regulate the menstrual cycle and plays a central role in pregnancy. The hormone is also present in men and affects the production of sperm cells. Progesterone also affects sleep and mood in both men and women.

An infusion of progesterone seems to protect the brain from swelling and helps to maintain a healthy blood supply to the brain thereby reducing the death of brain cells. It is not clear how progesterone aids the reduction of swelling.

A recent medical trial in the U.S. demonstrated that 30 percent of brain injury patients who were given a placebo died within 30 days of the injury, only 13 percent of patients given progesterone passed away within the same time period.

New studies on the effectiveness of the chemical began last year and will begin this year. One of the difficulties in the studies will be to administer progesterone within eight hours of injury. The chemical must be administered within eight hours of injury in order to be effective.

Often victims who suffer traumatic brain injury arrive at neurosurgical units four or five hours after injury and consent must be authorized from the patient or family before the chemical can be administered.

Hopefully, brain injury victims will be able to benefit from the potential treatment.

Source: MailOnline, "Can female sex hormones beat brain damage? Doctors believe progesterone may have protective effect," Rachel Ellis, Jan. 16, 2012