Restorative neurology of head injury

This article outlines the clinical characteristics of head injuries and describes their outcome. It emphasizes that some of the clinical characteristics and patterns of recovery can be explained by temporary or long-term failure in connection between different regions of the brain by specialized white matter pathways, which results in so-called dysconnection syndromes. It points out that the ability to assess these dysconnection syndromes leads to the prevention of disuse of the uninjured part of the brain and suppression of secondary brain dysfunctions. The second part of this article describes restorative neurology and then discusses how it is becoming possible to breach the existing gap between cellular and human holistic neurobiology. It concludes that restorative neurology research programs will be used routinely in the treatment of patients with acute and chronic head injury.