Long-term outcome from severe brain injury

Abstract

The long-term outcomes for patients with severe traumatic brain injury are not well known or understood. A retrospective study was made of 32 patients who completed a neurorehabilitation program and who were observed for a mean of 6.2 years post- injury. Each patient was vegetative for at least 14 days following injury and nonresponsive at time of admission to neurorehabilitation. Age at injury, sex, type of injury as evaluated by CT, number of acute complications, and the combined length of stay in acute care and neurorehabilitation did not influence outcome. One measure of severity was the time elapsed from injury to admission to neurorehabilitation, and those with a moderately severe injury (admission to neurorehabilitation < 45 days) showed better improvement than those with a catastrophic injury (admission to neurorehabilitation > 45 days). Some of the moderate severity group continued to show significant improvement through the second post-injury year. The results suggest that despite severe brain injuries and nonresponsiveness of at least 14 days, some of these patients continue to show significant improvement in function through the second year post-injury. © 1996 Demos Vermande.