Booze: Possible Treatment for Brain Injury

A stiff drink may be just what the doctor ordered for individuals with head injuries. That's according to new research on more than 38,000 moderate-to-severe head trauma patients, a BBC News report suggests.

Those patients with alcohol in their systems were significantly less likely to die than those sans alcohol, the results showed.

Here's how they think the booze remedy works: Ethanol, at the right dose, could stop the cascade of swelling, inflammation and further destruction of brain cells, known as secondary brain injury.

But the researchers caution such results, detailed in the September issue of the journal Archives of Surgery, are not a carte blanche to drink oneself into a stupor. For one, additional research is warranted to discern the link between alcohol and better outcome for head injuries and to figure out the effects of using alcohol as a possible therapy for head injuries.

In addition, patients with alcohol in their bloodstream were more likely to experience medical complications during their hospital stay. And as scientists point out, being drunk increases one's chances of getting into an accident in the first place.

Read the full story here.