Research to Improve Outcomes
Research provides an opportunity for individuals to learn more about themselves and their medical conditions. Research can also help others, and many children and adults who participate in studies feel good about the time they spend in a study. In our research program, we try to teach brain science to research participants and let them know how important their contribution has been.
People who participate in research need not be severely affected by a medical condition. Sometimes, it is important to involve individuals with mild symptoms. Sometimes unaffected individuals may also participate.
At Cincinnati Children’s, we do unique research, and we also participate in research with other major centers. Our research on movement disorders examines such questions as:
- Can we safely stimulate damaged areas of the brain to enhance recovery? (This involves treating adult stroke patients, but we hope to bring these treatments to children.)
- How do children develop fine motor skills independently in each hand?
- What are the risk factors and outcomes in psychogenic movement disorders?
- What psychiatric symptoms occur in patients with movement disorders such as Sydenham’s chorea?
- What are the progressive symptoms of child- or adolescent-onset Huntington disease?
- Tourette syndrome runs in families. What are the genes that cause it?
- What makes brains tic? Are the brain circuits involved in movement or sensation “wired” differently?
- Why do people with tics also have ADHD and OCD? How are these problems related to the biology of the brain?
- How can we best treat tics, as well as ADHD and OCD in persons with Tourette syndrome? What medications, types of medications or behavioral therapies are safe and effective?
