“What is the Likelihood if a Patient Recovering Consciousness After a TBI?” This is a question often asked by family and friends when a loved one is comatose after a traumatic brain injury. Usually this question was difficult if not impossible to answer. However, that may soon change (thanks to CounsellingResource.com for the pointer).

It has been announced that A Department of Veterans Affairs and Northwestern University researcher has developed the first reliable measure of neurobehavioral functioning that will help physicians predict the likelihood of a patient recovering consciousness during coma from severe brain injury within the first year of injury–with up to 86 percent certainty.

The study, by Theresa Pape, DrPH, and colleagues, is described in a two-part series in Volume 42, Issue 1, of the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development (JRRD). You can read the abstract here.