[Therapeutic possibilities in axonal injury caused by head trauma]

Traumatic brain injury is putting an extreme burden on societies all over the world. While surgical and neuro-intensive treatment is traditionally aimed at space occupying or focal lesions, traumatic brain injury is frequently associated with diffuse axonal injury, which significantly contributes to its morbidity and mortality. Current taught appreciates that diffuse axonal injury is a progressive event gradually evolving from focal alterations in axolemmal permeability and the underlying axonal ultrastructure to axonal disconnection, a process amenable of therapeutic interventions. This review is primarily focusing on the clinical/neuroradiological manifestation and our contemporary knowledge of the pathobiology of traumatically evoked (diffuse-) axonal injury with particular emphasize on recent- to date, primarily experimental-therapeutic approaches that in the future might offer potential aid to the head injured.