New Traumatic Brain Injury Research from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Discussed (Recovery after moderate to severe TBI and factors influencing functional outcome: What you need to know): Central Nervous System Diseases and Conditions – Traumatic Brain Injury

2024 MAR 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Pain & Central Nervous System Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in traumatic brain injury. According to news reporting from Charlestown, Massachusetts, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “ABSTRACT: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) represents a major cause of death and disability, significantly impacting the lives of 2.5 million people annually in the United States. Long-term natural history studies have clarified that functional recovery continues for up to a decade, even among those who sustain severe TBI.”

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital: “Despite these findings, nihilistic attitudes regarding prognosis persist among clinicians, highlighting the need for improved understanding of the natural history of recovery from TBI and the factors that influence outcome. Recent advances in neuroimaging technologies and blood-based biomarkers are shedding new light on injury detection, severity classification and the physiologic mechanisms underlying recovery and decline post-injury. Rehabilitation is an essential component of clinical management after moderate to severe TBI and can favorably influence mortality and functional outcome. However, systemic barriers, including healthcare policy, insurance coverage and social determinants of health often limit access to inpatient rehabilitation services. Post-traumatic amnesia and confusion contribute to morbidity after TBI; however, early initiation and sustained provision of rehabilitation interventions optimize long-term outcome. Evidence-based reviews have clearly shown that cognitive rehabilitation strategies can effectively restore or compensate for the cognitive sequelae of TBI when used according to existing practice guidelines. Neurostimulant agents are commonly employed off-label to enhance functional recovery, however, only amantadine hydrochloride has convincingly demonstrated effectiveness when used under tested parameters.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Non-invasive brain stimulation procedures, including transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), have emerged as promising treatments in view of their ability to modulate aberrant neuronal activity and augment adaptive neuroplasticity, but assessment of safety and effectiveness during the acute period has been limited. Understanding the natural history of recovery from TBI and the effectiveness of available therapeutic interventions is essential to ensuring appropriate clinical management of this complex population. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Regular Review, Level V.”

For more information on this research see: Recovery after moderate to severe TBI and factors influencing functional outcome: What you need to know. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 2024. The publisher for Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery is Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1097/ta.0000000000004305.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Lydia Borsi, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States. Additional authors for this research include Katherine Golden, Ally Sterling, Joseph T. Giacino.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the author of this research: Joseph T. Giacino (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7916-9698).

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