BACKGROUND Several studies have made it possible to predict outcome in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) making it beneficial as an aid for clinical decision-making in the emergency setting. However, reliable predictive models are lacking for resource-limited prehospital settings such as those in developing countries like South Africa. OBJECTIVE To develop a simple predictive model for seve...

Background: A decompressive craniotomy can relieve critically increased intracranial pressure. Objective: to assess the postoperative clinical outcome and compare it with other series. Methods: (a) patient selection: patients presented to the Neuroemergency unit in Kasr El-Eini Hospitals from January 2006 to December 2007 with traumatic brain injury and fulfilling the following criteria 1) clin...

PURPOSE Changes in electroencephalography (EEG) patterns may offer a clue to the cause of altered mental status and suggest the prognoses of patients with such mental status. We aimed to identify the EEG patterns in patients with altered mental status and to correlate EEG findings with clinical prognoses. MATERIALS AND METHODS We included 105 patients with altered mental status who underwent ...

traumatic brain injury (tbi) is an important cause of death and disability in young adults ,and may lead to physical disabilities and long-term cognitive, behavioral psychological and social defects. there is a lack of definite result about the effect of thyroid hormones after traumatic brain injury in the severity and no data about their effect on mortality of the injury. the aim of this study...

The objective of this study was to measure outcomes and to determine the safety and effectiveness of mild induced hypothermia in children after traumatic and posthypoxic brain injury. Methods. Forty patients, following traumatic or posthypoxic brain injury, were involved in the study. Mean age was 10.7 ± 0.8 years. Median GCS (Glasgow Coma Scale) was 6.0 (4-7) and mean PIM2 (Pediatric Index of ...

AIM The aim was to evaluate the level of interleukin 8 (IL-8), transforming growth factor β1 (TGF β1) and Nitric oxide (NO) in diffuse axonal injury (DAI) and its association to the outcome and clinical status. MATERIAL AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted on 20 patients with DAI and 20 patients with multiple traumas without head injury and 20 healthy subjects as controls. Blo...

AIm: To examine the use of prognostic factors such as age, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, pupil reactivity and computerized tomography (CT) findings for predicting the prognosis of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients in Turkey. mAterIAl and methOds: We retrospectively evaluated TBI patients who were accepted to Akdeniz University Intensive Care Unit between 1 January 2007 and 31 Decem...

BACKGROUND When to extubate the endotracheal tube is controversial in patients with depressed mental status. The use of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) with score 8 or above as a criterion for extubation by many investigators is questionable. METHODS A total of 133 consecutive patients (M/F: 86/47; age: 71 ± 17 years) admitted to the respiratory care center (RCC) of the hospital were enrolled. T...

BACKGROUND Assessment of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is predominantly done using the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). While the GCS is universally accepted for assessment of severity of traumatic brain injury, it may not be appropriate to rely on the GCS alone when assessing patients with mTBI in prehospital settings and emergency departments. OBJECTIVE To determine whether admi...

We hypothesized that vital signs could be used to improve the association between a trauma patient's prehospital Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score and his or her clinical condition. Previously, abnormally low and high blood pressures have both been associated with higher mortality for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). We undertook a retrospective analysis of 1384 adult prehospital trauma...