Post-acute management of head injuries

Many advances have been made in the last 15 years in the treatment of traumatic brain injuries. This paper reviews the advances not only in the acute management stage but also in the crucial rehabilitation phases, both acute and post-acute. Rehabilitation of the brain-injured patient has been shown to result from therapies rather than spontaneous improvement and take years to accomplish, emphasizing the need for a coordinated continuum of rehabilitation programs. There is now evidence that coma and vegetative states are sometimes reversible with a combination of treatments, among them neuropharmacology.