Current concepts in the rehabilitation of pediatric traumatic brain injury

Pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common condition. Recent advances in this area have included the development of quality of care indicators for the rehabilitation of children with TBI, efforts to identify means to prognosticate regarding outcomes including results of biomarker and imaging assessments, innovations in rehabilitation techniques including the application of various technologies, and continuing delineation of long-term outcomes. Application of the quality of care indicators support that pediatric-specific rehabilitation units are more likely to meet the quality of care indicators than all age units or those that admit a small number of children with TBI. Some biomarkers are showing promise, particularly when considering peak concentration, but extra-cranial injury makes their use challenging. Long-term outcome studies report continuing impairment years after injury. Evidence is still limited and would benefit from the application of standard definitions and use of consistent outcome measures.