PROGESTERONE AND VITAMIN D HORMONE FOR TREATMENT OF TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY IN THE AGED1

• Published in: PM & R 2011-06, Vol.3 (6 0 1), p.S100-S110
• Main Authors: Stein, Donald G., Cekic, Milos M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1934-1482; 1934-1563
• DOI: 10.1016/j.pmrj.2011.03.010

There is growing recognition that traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a highly variable and complex systemic disorder that is refractory to therapies that target individual mechanisms. It is even more complex in the elderly, in whom frailty, prior comorbidities, altered metabolism, and a long history of medication use are likely to complicate the secondary effects of brain trauma. Progesterone, one of the few neuroprotective agents that has shown promise for the treatment of acute brain injury, is now in national and international Phase III multi-center trial. New findings show that vitamin D hormone (VDH) and vitamin D deficiency in aging (and across the developmental spectrum) may interact with progesterone and TBI treatment. This paper reviews the use of progesterone and VDH as biologics based therapies and recent studies showing that the combination of progesterone and VDH may promote better functional outcomes than either treatment independently.