Pathway of care for visual and vestibular rehabilitation after mild traumatic brain injury: a critical review

• Published in: Brain injury Vol. 36; no. 8; pp. 911 - 920
• Main Authors: Xiang, Lucille, Bansal, Surbhi, Wu, Albert Y., Roberts, Tawna L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 03-07-2022
• Subjects: Brain Concussion - diagnosis; care management; Humans; Mild TBI; Retrospective Studies; review; vestibular rehabilitation; Vestibule, Labyrinth; vision rehabilitation; Mild TBI; care management; review; vision rehabilitation; vestibular rehabilitation
• ISSN: 0269-9052; 1362-301X
• DOI: 10.1080/02699052.2022.2105399

To review the pathway to care for treatment and management of patients receiving visual and vestibular rehabilitation after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
English scientific peer-reviewed articles from PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and PsycINFO between 2000 and 2020 were first screened by title and abstract, then those selected underwent full-text review and analysis.
The database search yielded 1640 results and after title and abstract review, 75 articles were selected for full-text screening, from which 8 were included in the qualitative synthesis. Current evidence includes a limited number of retrospective cohort studies and case studies.
Many patients with visual and vestibular deficits following mTBI do not receive rehabilitation services until months following their injury as there is no standardized pathway to care for patients for visual and vestibular rehabilitation. Barriers to establishing a standardized pathway are the lack of natural history data for visual and vestibular function following mTBI and the lack of randomized clinical trials establishing the efficacy of rehabilitation in patients following mTBI.