Chicago Electrical Trauma Rehabilitation Institute

The Chicago Electrical Trauma Rehabilitation Institute (CETRI), was founded in Chicago, Illinois in 2009 by a team of scientists and physicians for the purpose of finding more effective medical intervention strategies to increase neuromuscular, neurosensory and neuropsychological function recovery in electrical and lightning injury survivors.

The CETRI team consists of faculty associate with the five university based medical centers in Illinois that have been collaborating for more than three decades. Although the rates of higher-energy workplace electrical shocks are declining, it still remains a significant public health challenge with manifestations that are not fully understood  and may limit clinical recovery. The precise link between these post-electrical shock syndromes has long been a subject of considerable dialogue amongst medical scientists, in part because there does not exist a proportional or clear anatomical relationship between the electrical shock magnitude and the disabling consequences. Adding to research challenges to understand electrical shock injury is that many patients recover from electrical shock injuries with much fewer clinical problems than others. Thus, understanding the all risk factors and evidence-based treatment methods is important as well. Accomplishing this is CETRI's mission.

Mission and history
CETRI's mission is to improve recovery of individuals affected by electric injury while simultaneously advancing the understanding of tissue injury patterns associated with electric shock injuries. Its scientists and clinicians evaluate electrical shock survivors, then communicate with the medical providers in the patients community to optimize rehabilitation. Electrical shock injury is a complex multi-physical trauma that results in a range of clinical manifestations that differ from patient to patient. The explanation for this is one of CETRI's priority research focus areas. CETRI's research is funded by both federal and private research agencies, as well as public foundations. CETRI's publications have been referenced by the medical, scientific community ,and by trade magazines.

Some discoveries made by this team are that electrical shock injury is mediated by multiple mechanisms including non-thermal electrical forces. Many electrical shock survivors develop neuropsychological problems even if the current never passed through the brain and progressive peripheral pain and sleeplessness often adds to the disability. However, some electrical shock survivors do not manifest these problems, there determining the predisposing risk factors is an important CETRI objective.

Multispecialty Medical Support
CETRI 's patients are electrical injury survivors that have persistent or refractory neuromuscular, sensory, or neuropsychological disorders. Most have health care providers near to their place of residence. The CETRI multispecialty team will evaluate the patient and provide recommendations to the patient's local providers.

Works

 * Occupational Electrical Injury and Safety. Chen, C.-T., Lee, R.C., Shih, J.-X., and Zhong, M.-H. Eds., Annals of the New York Acad. of Science, Vol. 888, 1999. ISBN 1-57331-232-0
 * Electrical Trauma: The Pathophysiology, Manifestations, and Clinical Management. Lee, R.C., Burke, J.F. and Cravalho, E.G., Eds., Cambridge University Press, 1992
 * Electrical Injury: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Prevention, Therapy & Rehabilitation. Lee, R.C., Capelli-Schellpfeffer, M., and Kelley, K.M., Eds., New York Acad. of Science., Vol. 720, 1994. ISBN 0-89766-864-2.