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Current Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges

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Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common cause of death and disability in the USA. Progress has been made in improving outcomes for those with moderate and severe TBI, but for those with mild TBI (concussion) significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenges remain. Concussion ­typically causes physiologic injury that results in an alteration of the level of consciousness, often associated with headaches, balance problems, and difficulties concentrating. While these symptoms typically clear within hours or days, there is increasing evidence that sustaining a second concussion before fully recovering from the first can lead to prolonged or permanent neurologic injury. Because the diagnosis of concussion currently relies on patient self-report, and the culture in groups most at risk for concussion (e.g., high school and college athletes and the military) is to withhold ­symptoms in order to return to play or duty as quickly as possible, there is an urgent need for a point-of-care battery of tests that can provide an ­objective, highly reliable diagnosis of concussion. This chapter reviews innovative technologies currently being evaluated for the objective diagnosis of ­concussion, and innovative TBI therapies currently in clinical trial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, 11300 Rockville Pike, Suite 1100, Rockville, MD, 20852, USA

    Donald W. Marion M.D.

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  1. Donald W. Marion M.D.
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Correspondence to Donald W. Marion M.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. of the Health Sciences, Department of Neurology, Uniformed Services University, 4301 Jones Bridge Road, Bethesda, 20814, Maryland, USA

    Jack W. Tsao

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Marion, D.W. (2012). Current Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenges. In: Tsao, J. (eds) Traumatic Brain Injury. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87887-4_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87887-4_16

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-87886-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-87887-4

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