NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL REHABILITATION OF MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY

A significant minority of patients who have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) may exhibit persistent disability. There have bee n few attempts to describe and evaluate the effectiveness of neuroreha bilitation for these patients. We conducted a retrospective analysis o f the results of a neuropsychological rehabilitation programme for 20 patients with MTBI. Based upon the ability to resume productive functi oning after treatment, 10 patients were determined to exhibit a good o utcome and 10 patients were considered to exhibit a poor outcome. Pati ents with good outcome exhibited significant pre-post-treatment improv ements on both neuropsychological measures of cognitive functioning an d self-reported post-concussive symptoms. Patients with poor outcome d emonstrated little improvement in either area, and in some cases showe d a decline in functioning. The results are consistent with the view t hat there may be significant variability in recovery and response to t reatment after MTBI. There is a continued need to identify which patie nts may benefit from neurorehabilitation, develop specially tailored i nterventions, and conduct controlled, prospective studies in this area .