This well-designed study showed no benefit.
Despite the high prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI), few controlled, randomized, medication trials have been sufficiently powered to provide definitive results. These researchers assessed the effects of citicoline (an intermediate element in phosphatidylcholine synthesis) in 1213 patients hospitalized with TBI at eight Level I trauma centers.
TBI was complicated mild (basically, having computerized tomography evidence of lesions), moderate, or severe. Approximately two thirds of patients had complicated mild injuries; one fourth had post-traumatic amnesia lasting less than 24 hours. Participants were randomized to 90 days of manufacturer-supplied citicoline 2000 mg/day or placebo starting within 24 hours of injury.
The study was stopp…
Reviewing Author
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)
DisclosuresRoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions
Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)