Assessing the Limits of Posttraumatic Amnesia as a Severity Scale Traumatic brain injury (TBI) accounts for one-third (30.5%) of all injury-related deaths in the United States an estimated 1.7 million people suffer from TBI each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010). Classification of brain injuries (e.g., mild, moderate, and severe) is primarily done using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) which has gained wide acceptance for assessing the severity of brain damage (Bauer & Fritz, 2004) . Recent studies suggest that nearly all patients with moderate or severe TBI have a recovery period during which they are responsive but confused. This state is commonly referred to as post-traumatic amnesia. Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) is defined as “a failure of continuous memory” (Artiola et al., 1980; p.377). PTA is often cited as the best method for coding the grade, level of recovery, and outcome after closed head injury (e.g., Artieola et al., 1980; Tate, Pfaff, & Jurjevic, 2000). The duration of PTA is a better indicator of outcome than early injury scales such as the GCS score (Richardson et al., 2009). This analysis will examine the limitations of the general PTA rating scale and investigate the benefits and limitations of both the retrospective and prospective scales. methods used to measure the duration of PTA. Depth, extent of coma, and PTA are frequently assumed to be concomitant, reflecting different aspects of the common mechanism (Wilson, Teasdale, Hadley, Wiedmann, & Lang, 1993). The researchers argue that when PTA and coma were juxtaposed, their correlation was shown to be only moderately closer. Furthermore, they claim that previous studies exploring PTA and coma as predictors of outcome…half of the article…are reliable, right? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC486693/pdf/jnnpsyc00001-0046.pdfMcMillan, T. M., Jongen, E. L. M. M., Greenwood, & R. J. (1996). Evaluation of posttraumatic amnesia after severe closed head injury: retrospective or prospective? Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 60, 422-427http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/60/4/422.full.pdfTate, R.L., & Pfaff, A., Jurjevic, L. (2000) Resolution of disorientation and amnesia during posttraumatic amnesia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 68, 178-185http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1736763/pdf/v068p00178.pdfWilson JTL, Teasdale, G.M., Hadley, D.M., and Wiedmann, K. D., Lang, D. (2012). Post-traumatic amnesia: still a valuable yardstick. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 56, 198-201 http://jnnp.bmj.com/content/57/2/198.full.pdf