Clear strategies for treating traumatic brain injury are elusive, panel finds

There might be really good ways to restore brain-damaged people — especially the young wounded of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — to a healthy, if not entirely normal, state. But it’s difficult to say with certainty what those techniques are.

That’s the conclusion of a scientific review of “cognitive rehabilitation therapy” performed by the Institute of Medicine at the request of the Defense Department.

This less-than-satisfying message from a250-page report prepared by 14 experts is a testament to how difficult it is to study treatments for problems such as clouded thinking, inarticulate speech, poor planning, bad moods, unemployability and family conflict. It’s not as simple as determining whether a drug for hypertension reduces blood pressure.

“It doesn’t mean beneficial therapies don’t exist. It just means that at this point in time it’s hard to ascertain them,” said Ira Shoulson, a neurologist at Georgetown University who headed the Institute of Medicine panel.

By David Brown

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/clear-strategies-for-treating-traumatic-brain-injury-are-elusive-panel-finds/2011/10/10/gIQAkRBZcL_story.html