OBJECTIVES Our objective was to assess the clinical usefulness of the Nociception Coma Scale-revised (NCS-R) in pain management of patients with disorders of consciousness. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty-nine patients with potential painful conditions (eg, due to fractures, decubitus ulcers, or spasticity) were assessed during nursing cares before and after the administration of an analgesic tr...

Background. Neurological assessment is an essential element of early warning scores used to recognize critically ill patients. We compared the performance of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) with Full Outline of Unresponsiveness (FOUR) scale as an alternative method in the identification of clinically relevant outcomes in traumatic brain injury. Objective. The purpose of this study was to compare t...

The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was introduced in 1974 aiming at standardizing assessment of level of consciousness in head injured patients. It has been used mainly in evaluating prognosis, comparing different groups of patients and monitoring the neurological status. However its use expanded beyond the original intention of the scale and certain limitations were identified. The skewness toward t...

INTRODUCTION Civilian penetrating gunshot injuries to the neurocranium are no longer uncommon in Nigeria. Such injuries are however poorly reported. They are associated with poor outcome and, at close range, are frequently fatal, especially when inflicted by high-velocity weapons. Prompt transfer to neurosurgical service and urgent intervention may improve outcome in those that are not mortally...

BACKGROUND We sought to determine if the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) has a greater discriminative power than Glasgow coma scale (GCS) identify patients at risk poor early functional outcomes and large hematoma volumes. METHODS prospectively collected clinical assessments, imaging, outcome data in consecutive with intracerebral hemorrhage, determined ability GCS NIHSS pred...

RATIONALE No large studies till date are available from India on post-traumatic seizures (PTS). METHODS This is a prospective observational study of 520 patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) (July 2007-2008). Patients admitted after 24h of injury, with Glasgow coma scale (GCS)<or=4 were excluded. RESULTS At a median follow-up of 386 days, 59 (11.4%) patients developed PTS. Incidence of...

OBJECTIVE To systematically review which determinants, assessed within the first month after a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, predict 6-month functional outcome. METHODS Databases were searched for relevant publications between 1995 and August 2008. Selection criteria were: prospective cohort studies; determinants associated with functional outcome 6 months after moderate to sever...

introduction: trauma has been recognized as one of the leading causes of death in many countries for decades. reduction in mortality and morbidity rate of trauma cases is one of the most important attitudes in this field. evaluation of different risk factors have been considered as the main goal of some studies. the purpose of this study was determining potential risk factors of death in trauma...

STUDY OBJECTIVE Emergency medical services (EMS) personnel frequently use the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) to assess injured and critically ill patients. This study assesses the accuracy of EMS providers' GCS scoring, as well as the improvement in GCS score assessment with the use of a scoring aid. METHODS This randomized, controlled study was conducted in the emergency department (ED) of an urba...

Background: The prevalence of patients suffering from hypoxic brain damage is increasing. Long-term outcome data and prognostic factors for either poor or good outcome are lacking. Methods: This retrospective study included 93 patients with hypoxic brain damage undergoing neurological early rehabilitation [length of stay: 108.5 (81.9) days]. Clinical data, validated outcome scales (e.g. Barthel...