Rehabilitation outcome after traumatic brain injury

Rehabilitation goals after traumatic brain injury are improving function, increasing the level of independence as high as possible, preventing complications and providing an acceptable environment to the patient. Several complications can be encountered during the rehabilitation period which lead to physical, cognitive and neurobehavioral impairments that cause major delay in functional improvement. This prospective study was designed in order to investigate the complications and their relations with functional recovery in patients that were included in the acute phase of a rehabilitation program. Thirty traumatic brain injured patients admitted to the Intensive Care Units of Uludag University School of Medicine were included in the study. Rehabilitation program consisted in appropriate positioning, range of motion exercises, postural drainage and respiratory exercises. Complications that were encountered during intensive care rehabilitation program were recorded. All patients were evaluated by Functional Independence Measure, Disability Rating Scale and Ranchos Los Amigos Levels of Cognitive Function Scale at admission and discharge. Improvement was observed in patients in terms of functional outcome and disability levels. Pneumonia, athelectasis, anemia and meningitis were the most frequent complications. Deterioration in functional outcome and disability levels was noted as the number of these complications increased. In conclusion, rehabilitation has an important role in the management of traumatic brain injured patients. Reduction of frequency of complications and improvement in functional outcome and disability levels can be achieved through rehabilitation programs. Long-term controlled studies with large number of patients are needed in order to obtain accurate data on factors associated with rehabilitation outcomes. Entre los objetivos de la rehabilitación después de un traumatismo craneoencefálico está la mejoría de la función cerebral el aumento del grado de independencia la prevención de complicaciones y la obtención de un ambiente acceptable para el paciente. Durante el período de la rehabilitación pueden producirse varias complicaciones que conducen a discapacidades físicas, cognitivas y otras neurológicas que causan un importante retraso en la mejoría funcional. Este estudio ha sido diseñado para investigar las complicaciones observadas en los pacientes que se incluyeron en un programa de rehabilitación en fase aguda, sus relaciones con el es