Birth pill hormone may reduce brain damage

A major trial of more than 1,000 patients could set the stage for accident victims and soldiers with severe head injuries to be treated with a contraceptive pill hormone.
By The Newsroom
Published 19th Feb 2010, 23:10 BST
Updated 19th Feb 2010, 23:11 BST

Progesterone is a female "sex steroid" that plays a key role in pregnancy. Used in the Pill, it helps to prevent conception by fooling the body into thinking it is already pregnant.

But small levels of the hormone are found in the brains of both women and men and it is believed to play a critical role in the normal development of neurons.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Research suggests that progesterone also exerts protective effects on damaged brain tissue.

An earlier study of just 100 patients showed that injections of the hormone soon after a head injury were safe and might reduce the risk of death and long-term disability.

The new Phase III trial conducted at 17 medical centres around the US will enrol around 1,140 brain-damaged patients over three to six years.

This kind of trial usually marks the final testing stage before a treatment is made widely available.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The ProTECT III study will be led by scientists from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, where the neuro-protective properties of progesterone were first discovered more than 25 years ago.

Traumatic brain injuries are common among road accident victims, and are also the "signature wound" of soldiers injured in modern conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

Related topics:IraqAfghanistan