Stem Cells in Traumatic Brain Injury Therapy

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health and socioeconomic problem throughout the world. Each year, TBI contributes to a substantial number of cases of permanent disability and even death. According to CDC data, about 1.7 million TBI occur every year in the U.S. and at least 5.3 million Americans currently live with disabilities resulting from TBI. In addition, it is also the leading killer of young children. As a result with improving medical technology as well as an improved understanding of TBI, the survival rate of patients with severe TBI has increased significantly. However, a majority of these survivors suffer from varying types of disabilities, such as body motor dysfunction, language and communication difficulties, and psychological and social cognitive defects. Currently, the typical treatments for TBI involve surgery or conservative symptomatic treatment, focusing on preventing secondary injury during the early stages and individually tailored rehabilitation therapies including physical therapy and occupational therapy during late stages. However, these aforementioned therapies have been shown to not be as effectively beneficial for moderately to severely injured patients. In addition, the development of several pharmacological agents, in an attempt to prevent the secondary injury associated with TBI, has also proven to be ineffective [1,2].