Behavioral Outcomes of Traumatic Brain Injury

Each year, an estimated 2.4 million Americans and 10 million people worldwide suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI). TBIs occur in military and civilian populations, resulting from diverse events such as explosive blasts, motor vehicle accidents, and falls. Even amongst those sustaining a mild TBI, approximately 1/3 report symptoms that endure beyond three months, including headache, learning and memory difficulties, and slowed reaction speeds. Moreover, neuropsychiatric comorbidities, such as substance abuse, anxiety, and/or depression often occurr in TBI patients. Prior attempts to identify individuals that will experience enduring symptoms following TBI have been largely unsuccessful. Moreover, most pharmacotherapies to treat long-term symptoms of brain injury are administered in off-label use due to the lack of FDA-approved drugs for TBI.

In this special topic, our goal is to synthesize clinical and preclinical studies that address enduring behavioral problems following TBI. By examining factors such as environment, genetics, and common TBI comorbidities, we can better understand individual differences in TBI outcomes. Measurement of pathology and physiology following behavioral assessment of TBI outcomes can provide insight into biological processes that may underlie specific behavioral deficits and reveal novel therapeutic targets.

We welcome all article types including reviews, original research, and techniques addressing the following subjects:
• Individual differences in TBI outcomes
• TBI Comorbidities, such as PTSD, stress and/or drug exposure
• Neuroimaging in TBI (e.g., functional MRI, structural MRI, magnetoencephalography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy)
• Pharmacotherapy of TBI (e.g., psychostimulants, anti-inflammatories)
• Neuromodulatory treatments of TBI