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Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
Mild injury
Mild traumatic brain injuries usually require no treatment other than rest and over-the-counter pain relievers to treat a headache. However, a person with a mild traumatic brain injury usually needs to be monitored closely at home and with a follow-up doctor appointment for any persistent, worsening or new symptoms.
Your doctor will advise you on when it's appropriate to resume work, school or recreational activities. He or she is likely to advise a gradual return to normal routines.
Immediate emergency care
Emergency care for moderate to severe traumatic brain injury focuses on making sure the person has an adequate oxygen and blood supply, maintaining blood pressure, and preventing any further injury to the head or neck. People with severe injuries may also have other injuries that need to be addressed.
Additional treatments in the emergency room or intensive care unit of a hospital will focus on minimizing secondary damage due to inflammation, bleeding or reduced oxygen supply to the brain.
Medications
Medications to limit secondary damage to the brain immediately after an injury may include the following:
- Diuretics. These drugs reduce the amount of fluid in tissues and increase urine output. Diuretics, given intravenously to people with traumatic brain injury, help reduce pressure inside the brain.
- Anti-seizure drugs. People who've had a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury are at risk of having seizures during the first week after their injury. An anti-seizure drug may be given during the first week to avoid any additional brain damage that might be caused by a seizure. Additional anti-seizure treatments are used only if seizures occur.
- Coma-inducing drugs. Doctors sometimes use drugs to put people into temporary comas because a comatose brain needs less oxygen to function. This is especially helpful if blood vessels, compressed by increased pressure in the brain, are unable to deliver the usual amount of nutrients and oxygen to brain cells.
Surgery
Emergency surgery may be needed to minimize additional damage to brain tissues. Surgery may be used to address the following problems:
- Removing clotted blood (hematomas). Bleeding outside or within the brain can result in a collection of clotted blood (hematoma) that puts pressure on the brain and damages brain tissues.
- Repairing skull fractures. Surgery may be needed to repair severe skull fractures or to remove pieces of skull in the brain.
- Opening a window in the skull. Surgery may be used to relieve pressure inside the skull by draining accumulated cerebral spinal fluid or creating a window in the skull that provides more room for swollen tissues.
Rehabilitation
Most people who have had a significant brain injury will require rehabilitation. They may need to relearn basic skills, such as walking or talking. The overall goal is to improve their abilities to function at home and in the community.
Therapy usually begins in the hospital and continues at an inpatient rehabilitation unit, a residential treatment facility or through outpatient services. The type and duration of rehabilitation varies by individual, depending on the severity of the brain injury and what part of the brain was injured. Rehabilitation specialists may include:
- Physiatrist, a medical doctor specializing in rehabilitative medicine, who oversees the entire rehabilitative process
- Occupational therapist who helps you learn, relearn or improve skills to perform everyday activities
- Physical therapist, who helps with mobility and relearning movement patterns, balance and walking
- Speech and language pathologist, who helps you improve communication skills and use assistive communication devices if necessary
- Neuropsychologist or psychiatrist, who helps you manage behaviors or learn coping strategies, provide talk therapy as needed for emotional and psychological well-being, and prescribe psychotherapeutic medication as needed
- Social worker or case manager, who facilitates access to service agencies, assists with care decisions and planning, and facilitates communication among various professionals, care providers and family members
- Rehabilitation nurse, who provides ongoing rehabilitation care and services and who helps with discharge planning from the hospital or rehabilitation facility
- Traumatic brain injury nurse specialist, who helps coordinate care and educates families about the injury and recovery process
- Recreational therapist, who helps you explore and participate in leisure activities
- Vocational counselor, who assesses your ability to return to work, appropriate vocational opportunities and provides resources for addressing common challenges in the workplace.
- Living with brain injury: Education. Brain Injury Association of America. http://www.biausa.org/education.htm. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Heads up: Facts for physicians about mild traumatic brain injury. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/headsup/physicians_tool_kit.html. Accessed July 7, 2010.
- Traumatic brain injury: Hope through research. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/detail_tbi.htm. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Ling GS, et al. Management of traumatic brain injury in the intensive care unit. Neurologic Clinics. 2008;26:409.
- Nolan S. Traumatic brain injury: A review. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly. 2005;28:188.
- Living with brain injury: Treatment and rehabilitation. Brain Injury Association of America. http://www.biausa.org/treatmentandrehab.htm. Accessed July 8, 2010.
- Traumatic brain injury. Family Caregiver Alliance. http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=579. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Coping with behavior problems after head injury. Family Caregiver Alliance. http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=396. Accessed July 21, 2010.
- Brown AW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Aug. 11, 2010.
- Traumatic brain injury in the United States: Emergency department visits, hospitalizations and deaths, 2002-2006. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/TraumaticBrainInjury. Accessed Aug. 16, 2010.
- Military & veterans. BrainLine.org. http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/categories/military.html. Accessed Aug. 23, 2010.
- Thinking/cognitive symptoms. BrainLine.org. http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/categories/cognitivesymptoms.html. Accessed Aug. 23, 2010.
- Barbara Woodward Lips Patient Education Center. Understanding brain injury: A guide for the family. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2008. http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/tbims/upload/ubi_families.pdf. Accessed Aug. 23, 2010.
- Moessner AM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. August 16, 2010.
- Behavioral and emotional symptoms. BrainLine.org. http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/categories/behavioralsymptoms.html. Accessed Aug. 23, 2010.
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