Complications of head injury

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury is a potentially devastating condition that affects many young adults and is increasingly seen in older people. In addition to initial insult to the neuronal tissue at the time injury, patients with traumatic brain injury may suffer from many physical and psychological complications. These complications further protract the path of recovery and pose challenges in treatment of this group of patients. In this chapter we aim to discuss early and late phase complications following traumatic brain injury and summarize the role of neurorehabilitation in the care of patients with head injury, with the understanding that classification by timing is an inexact science and there is considerable overlap between early and late complications.