Skier lauds new brain injury treatment technique

VANCOUVER — A competitive skier from Utah is crediting a new technique at Vancouver General Hospital for a swift recovery from a brain injury she suffered in Whistler, B.C.

Jamie Crane-Mauzy was the first patient in British Columbia to undergo autoregulation monitoring, a process allowing doctors to determine the precise oxygen and blood pressure levels in her brain.

The 23-year-old was hospitalized for eight days and her family was told she might die after she crashed during a double backflip at the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in April last year.

But two doctors decided Crane-Mauzy would be the first patient for the new technique just weeks after they introduced the program at the hospital with knowledge they acquired in the United Kingdom.

Critical care Dr. Donald Griesdale says the technology can help patients leave the intensive care unit sooner and give them a better chance at recovering to the point of living independently. Another 36 patients have been treated with autoregulation monitoring since CraneMauzy, and Griesdale says 60 per cent of those have had favourable outcomes.

DARRYL DYCK, THE CANADIAN PRESS U.S. slopestyle skier Jamie Crane-Mauzy, of Park City, Utah,who suffereda severe traumatic brain injury during a competition in Whistler last year, reacts while watching a videoof her recovery, during a news conference atVancouver GeneralHospital.