Many patients with mild to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) have long-term deficits in comprehending medical information and making informed treatment decisions, according to a new study comprising 111 individuals with TBI. The participants' medical decision-making capacity was evaluated at several time points 1 year after injury. In patients with mild TBI or complicated mild TBI, the deficits in some of the cognitively complex aspects of medical decision-making were transient, whereas in patients with more-severe TBI, the capacity for reasoning and understanding medical information often remained compromised.
References
Steward, K. A. et al. Twelve-month recovery of medical decision-making capacity following traumatic brain injury. Neurology http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000003079 (2016)
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Malkki, H. Impaired medical decision-making capacity in TBI. Nat Rev Neurol 12, 555 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2016.137
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2016.137