Objective: To describe the most important coma scales developed in the last fifty years. Method: A review of the literature between 1969 and 2009 in the Medline and Scielo databases was carried out using the following keywords: coma scales, coma, disorders of consciousness, coma score and levels of coma. Results: Five main scales were found in chronological order: the Jouvet coma scale, the Mos...

INTRODUCTION Better prognostic classification of patients who are severely injured or in critical condition has been associated with reduced case fatality from traumatic brain injury. OBJECTIVE Determine the value of admission results (clinical, laboratory and imaging) and severity scales, for predicting mortality in traumatic brain injury patients. METHODS A cross-sectional study of trauma...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Dysphagia after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) contributes significantly to morbidity, often necessitating placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube. This study describes a novel risk prediction score for PEG placement after ICH. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed data from 234 patients with ICH presenting during a 4-year period. One hundred eighty-...

OBJECTIVE Posttraumatic amnesia is superior to the initial Glasgow Coma Scale score for predicting traumatic brain injury recovery, but it takes days/weeks to assess. Here, we examined whether return of visual fixation-a potential marker of higher cognitive function-within 24 hours of ICU admission could be used as an early predictor of traumatic brain injury recovery. DESIGN Two-phase cohort...

BACKGROUND Geriatric trauma patients have a worse outcome than the young with comparable injuries. The contribution of traumatic brain injury (TBI) to this increased mortality is unknown and has been confounded by the presence of other injuries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of age in the mortality and early outcome from isolated TBI. METHODS This was a retrospective a...

OBJECTIVE The aims of this study were to document the incidence of impaired cerebral autoregulation in children with traumatic brain injury using transcranial Doppler ultrasonography and to examine the relationship between autoregulatory capacity and outcome in children following traumatic brain injury. DESIGN Prospective cohort study. SETTING Harborview Medical Center (level I pediatric tr...

Objective: To define risk factors affecting the outcome in traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage. Material and Methods: Forty-four patients with traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage were evaluated retrospectively. They were divided into three groups according to their age: elderly (≥65 years), adult (1664 years), and children (<16 years). The clinical picture on admission was evaluated using the Glasg...

Methods This is a prospective observational study with institutional review board approval. Patients TBI and a Glasgow Coma Scale score ≤8 were identified on admission. Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Injury Severity Score (ISS), radiographic scales based on admission computed tomography (Marshall), IntraCranial Pressure (ICP), pBtO2 and pBtO2/paO2 during first 24 hours were recorded. Patient outcome...