Dual diagnosis: traumatic brain injury with spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) patients should be assessed for a co-occurring traumatic brain injury (TBI) on admission to a rehabilitation program. Incidence of a dual diagnosis may approach 60% with certain risk factors. Diagnosis of mild-moderate severity TBIs may be missed during acute care hospitalizations of SCI. Neuropsychological symptoms of a missed TBI diagnosis may be perceived during rehabilitation as noncompliance, inability to learn, maladaptive reactions to SCI, and poor motivation. There are life-threatening and quality-of-life-threatening complications of TBI that also may be missed if a dual diagnosis is not made.