An interdisciplinary perspective on the agitated brain injured patient

The Special Interest Group on Brain Injury of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is developing a practice parameter for the agitated patient following traumatic brain injury (TBI). The eventual goal of the project is to create an interdisciplinary practice guideline for classifying and treating these patients using a common nosology, based on contributions from the literatures of neurosurgery, psychology, psychiatry and rehabilitation medicine. It is envisioned that a uniform classification system would ultimately promote interdisciplinary research and serve to advance our understanding and treatment of this patient population. In the acute post-injury period, many TBI patients can be characterized by confusion, agitation, post-traumatic amnesia and delirium. In various acute care settings, psychiatrists, psychologists or rehabilitation medicine physicians (physiatrists) are asked to evaluate and treat this population of patients. Each of these disciplines employ specialty-based diagnostic criteria and rating instruments, with little or no consensus across disciplines concerning the appropriateness of these tools. This article reviews the classification and rating systems utilized within the fields of neurosurgery, rehabilitation medicine, psychology and psychiatry, to describe patients displaying agitated behaviors. The authors review the literature establishing the definitions, measurement and possible neuroanatomic and neurophysiologic substrate for delirium and brain-injury agitation, with its characteristic cognitive and behavioral manifestations. Pharmacologic treatment is briefly reviewed to emphasize the significantly different viewpoints from the fields of rehabilitation medicine and psychiatry. The authors explore support from the literature for an interdisciplinary definition for agitation following TBI which includes criteria for delirium, post-traumatic amnesia, and associated behavioral excesses such as disinhibition, aggression, or emotional lability. Wide acceptance of this definition by medical and research professionals may potentially lead to a greater understanding of this clinical state and its neuropathogenesis through promotion of intra- and inter-disciplinary research.