repetitive traumatic brain injury in kashan, iran

background traumatic brain injury (tbi) is a worldwide problem, especially in countries with high incidences of road traffic accidents such as iran. patients with a single occurrence of tbi have been shown to be at increased risk to future tbi. this study presents incidences and characteristics of repeated traumatic brain injury (rtbi) in iran. materials and methods during one year, all admitted tbi patients with prior tbi history were enrolled in the study. for each patient, the following data were collected: age, gender, past medical history, type of injury mechanism, anatomic site of injury, tbi severity, clinical findings, and ct scan findings. results rtbi were composed of 2.5 % of tbi (41 of 1629). the incidence of tbi per 100,000 person-years was 9.1. the main mechanism of rtbi was road traffic accidents (68.3%). a total of 9.7 % of cases had preexisting seizure/epilepsy disorder (9.7%). a total of 36.6% of rtbi had previous icu admission due severe tbi. ten patients had gcs ≤13 (24.4%). seizures were seen in 7 patients (17.1%). a total of 39% of rtbi patients had associated injuries. eleven patients had abnormal ct scan findings (26.3%). conclusions considering the high incidence of trauma in developing countries, rtbi may also be more common than in developed countries. this mandates a newer approach to preventive strategies, particularly in those with a previous experience of head injury.