Traumatic Brain Injury
Questions families ask
The questions that come up in the first conversation.
Will he be the same person again?
Some things change and some come back, and the honest answer at the start is that nobody can tell you which is which yet. What can be said early is how severe the injury was, and post-traumatic amnesia duration is the best available measure of that.
Is it too late? The injury was two years ago.
No. Change slows over time but it does not stop, and function can still be built long afterwards — particularly the practical kind that does not depend on further neurological recovery. What we will not do is imply that a late programme achieves what an early one would have.
Do you accept patients who need supervision at night?
This depends on the centre and the level of supervision required. It is one of the questions the physician answers from the records, before travel is arranged rather than after arrival.
Can children be treated here?
Brain injury in children is treated in the paediatric programme rather than this one — the goals, the family involvement and the schooling questions are different enough that it is a separate pathway.
What language will therapy be in?
Interpreting during therapy and physician review is arranged where it is needed. In brain injury this matters more than usual: cognitive and communication therapy conducted through an unfamiliar language measures the language, not the brain. Which languages are available at which centre is confirmed in writing before you travel.
Sources
- INCOG 2.0 Guidelines for Cognitive Rehabilitation Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Part I: Posttraumatic Amnesia — Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (2023)
- Practice Guideline Update: Disorders of Consciousness — American Academy of Neurology (2018)
- The misdiagnosis of prolonged disorders of consciousness by clinical consensus compared with repeated Coma Recovery Scale–Revised assessment — BMC Neurology (2020)
- Diagnostic accuracy of the vegetative and minimally conscious state: clinical consensus versus standardized neurobehavioral assessment — BMC Neurology (2009)
- Utility of post-traumatic amnesia in predicting 1-year productivity following traumatic brain injury: comparison of the Russell and Mississippi PTA classification intervals — Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry (2011)
- Patterns of Functional Change Five to Ten Years after Moderate-Severe Traumatic Brain Injury — Journal of Neurotrauma (2021)
- Natural history of recovery and long-term outcome in critically ill patients with brain injury. — Current Opinion in Critical Care (2025)
