Rehabilitation outcome of brain damaged patients after severe head injury

Abstract

The multidisciplinary team approach to the prolonged treatment of head injured patients in widely discussed. The rehabilitation process of the 147 subjects of this paper started while they were comatose and continued throughout the various stages of their progress towards full integration into society; the assessment of this process was carried out by testing their reintegration into work according to their capacities. Brain damage is classified in four categories: Physical-locomotor, communicative, cognitive and behavioural. The gap between the team's expectations and the patients' factual functioning within the community was found to be proportional to the extent of damage caused by the original injury. Treatment procedures and the influence of various factors on the factual functional state are discussed at length.

A comparison of functional outcomes in hypoxia and traumatic brain injury: A pilot study

“…It has been reported that the outcome of patients who sustain nontraumatic coma due to cerebral anoxia is poor [4,5]. Most patients do not survive more than 2 to 3 days in coma, and those patients that do survive are often left with substantial disabilities including lower scores in indices of quality of life, and increased allocation of resources from longer lengths of stay and higher hospital costs [6]. There are only a few studies in the rehabilitation literature, which directly address outcomes of these patients.…”

Tracheotomy in severe TBI patients: sequelae and relation to vocational outcome

“…Patients were divided into two groups, according to presence of respiratory complications, and the duration of unconsciousness was determined for each group [3,4]. Duration of unconsciousness was precisely registered for 67/69 patients.…”

“…For this purpose, an interdisciplinary team that included physiatrists, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists [1] assessed all patients. The functional rehabilitation outcome was estimated according to the predicted vocational status reached by the patient after discharge [2,3].…”

Clinical neuropsychology and brain injury rehabilitation in Israel: A twenty-year perspective

“…Thus, the center treats patients from unconsciousness until the stage when they are ready to return to society, after which they receive follow-up care in the hospital's day care center. This intensive therapeutic relationship over many years of follow-up produced some of the pioneering studies of the long-term effects of TBI both on the patients and on the patients' families (Najenson et al, 1974;Groswasser et al, 1977;Najenson et al, 1980). Subsequent sections will focus on specialized treatment services in the postacute or "chronic" stage of the recovery process.…”

“…The accessibility of patients in a small countx 3, such as Israel enables professionals to conduct such lengthy longitudinal studies. Loewenstein Rehabilitation Center formed a special unit to follow their patients and the results of these studies have been reported (Najenson et al, 1974;Groswasser et al, 1977;Najenson et al, 1980). The National Institute for Rehabilitation of the Brain Injured-Recanati Rehabilitation Center has also been following its patients for an extended period of time .…”