Traumatic brain injury and cognition

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability, and therefore an important health and socioeconomic problem for our society. Individuals surviving from a moderate to severe TBI frequently suffer from long-lasting cognitive deficits. Such deficits include different aspects of cognition such as memory, attention, executive functions, and awareness of their deficits. This chapter presents a review of the main neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies of patients with TBI. These studies found that patients evolve differently according to the severity of the injury, the mechanism causing the injury, and the lesion location. Further research is necessary to develop rehabilitation methods that enhance brain plasticity and recovery after TBI. In this chapter, we summarize current knowledge and controversies, focusing on cognitive sequelae after TBI. Recommendations from the Common Data Elements are provided, with an emphasis on diagnosis, outcome measures, and studies organization to make data more comparable across studies. Final considerations on neuroimaging advances, rehabilitation approaches, and genetics are described in the final section of the chapter.

Keywords: cognition; genetics; neuroimaging; rehabilitation; traumatic brain injury.