Role of Thalamus in Recovery of Traumatic Brain Injury

• Main Authors: Ashok Munivenkatappa, Amit Agrawal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thieme Medical and Scientific Publishers Pvt. Ltd. 2016-12-01
• Series: Journal of Neurosciences in Rural Practice
• Subjects: anisotropy; neuroplasticity; posttraumatic symptoms; recovery; thalamus; traumatic brain injury
• Online Access: http://www.thieme-connect.de/DOI/DOI?10.4103/0976-3147.196468

Degree of recovery after traumatic brain injury is highly variable that lasts for many weeks to months. The evidence of brain structures involved in recovery mechanisms is limited. This review highlights evidence of the brain structure particularly thalamus in neuroplasticity mechanism. Thalamus with its complex global networking has potential role in refining the cortical and other brain structures. Thalamic nuclei activation both naturally or by neurorehabilitation in injured brain can enhance and facilitate the improvement of posttraumatic symptoms. This review provides evidence from literature that thalamus plays a key role in recovery mechanism after injury. The study also emphasize that thalamus should be specifically targeted in neurorehabilitation following brain injury.