The ebb and flow of traumatic brain injury research

The purpose of this chapter is to summarize some key topics discussed in this volume and describe trends suggesting the direction of future traumatic brain injury (TBI) research. Interest in, and funding for, TBI has ebbed and flowed with the public awareness of injury risk from combat, sports, or everyday life. Advances in acute resuscitation, emergency response systems, and early management have had a major impact on survival after TBI, while recent research has emphasized underlying genetic substrates and the molecular mechanisms of brain injury, repair, and neuroplasticity. This in turn impacts not only on primary and secondary neuroprotection strategies for minimizing injury, but also on the other critical remaining challenge, that of identification and validation of optimal strategies for physical and cognitive TBI rehabilitation. New information also highlights long-term degenerative conditions associated with earlier TBI and mediated by a signature cascade of abnormal molecular processes. Thus, TBI has emerged as a recognized significant public health risk with both immediate and lifelong repercussions. The linkage of a TBI to late-life neurodegenerative diseases, the observation of persistent pathologic processes including neuroinflammation and accumulation of tau protein, as well as individual differences in the genetic predisposition for brain repair and plasticity should lead to meaningful translational research with a significant impact on the efficacy and cost-efficiency of acute and chronic treatment for TBI survivors.