The Prognostic Significance of Biomarkers in Cerebrospinal Fluid Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract Background We aimed to systematically review the efficacy of mannitol (MTL) on patients with acute severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods Databases such as PubMed (US National Library of Medicine), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2014, Issue 3), ISI (Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded), Chinese Biomedicine Database (CBM), and China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database (CNKI) have been searched for relevant studies published between 1 January 2003 and 1 October 2014. We have established inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify RCTs, which were suitable to be enrolled in the systematic review. The comparison group could be hypertonic saline (HS), hydroxyethyl starch, or others. The quality assessment was based on the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.0.1 and modified Jadad score scale. The major outcome was mortality, followed by the secondary outcomes such as neurological outcome, days on intensive care unit (ICU), and ventilator day. In addition, intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were used as the surrogate endpoints. Data synthesis and meta-analysis was conducted by using R (version 3.7-0.). Results When 176 potential relevant literatures and abstracts have been screened, four RCTs met all the inclusion criteria and were enrolled for the meta-analysis. Amongst all the enrolled studies, two trials have provided the primary outcome data. There was no heterogeneity between two studies (I2 = 0 %) and a fixed model was used for meta-analysis (n = 53), pooled result indicated that the mortality was similar in mannitol intervention and control treatment, OR = 0.80, 95 % CI [0.27, 2.37], P = 0.38. We found that both mannitol and HS were efficient in decreasing the ICP. Furthermore, the effect of the HS on the ICP appeared to be more effective in the patients with diffuse brain injuries than mannitol did. Conclusions As a conclusion, the mannitol therapy cannot reduce the mortality risk of acute severe traumatic brain injury. Current evidence does not support the mannitol as an effective treatment of acute severe traumatic brain injury. The well-designed randomized controlled trials are in urgent need to demonstrate the adoption of mannitol to acute severe traumatic brain injury.

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Abstract 9115: Determining Optimal Hemoglobin Transfusion Threshold for Patients With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Circulation ◽

10.1161/circ.144.suppl_2.9115 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 144 (Suppl_2) ◽

Author(s):

Nitish Sood ◽

Arnav Goyal ◽

Dayton Grogan ◽

Vamsi Reddy

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Brain Injury ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Severe Traumatic Brain Injury ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Cost Of Care ◽

Current Evidence ◽

Transfusion Threshold ◽

Significant Difference

Introduction: Multiple randomized controlled trials have found that a conservative approach to transfusing critically ill patients reduces mortality, with current guidelines recommending a hemoglobin (HgB) transfusion threshold of 7 g/dL. However, little work has examined whether this transfusion threshold reduces mortality in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Here, we present a systematic review and meta-analysis of the literature. Methods: A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Ovid, and Web of Science. Full-text articles were eligible if patients with TBI, defined as Glasgow Coma Score <= 8, were divided into multiple groups with varying hemoglobin transfusion thresholds and reported any outcome of interest including mortality, number of packed red blood cell (PRBC) units transfused, length of stay in ICU, and length of stay in the hospital. Eight studies were eligible (n = 3663). We compared mortality rates at HgB transfusion thresholds of < 7 g/dL, < 8 g/dL, < 9 g/dL, and < 10 g/dL. Results: We found that traditionally ‘conservative’ approaches to anemia management (HgB < 7 g/dL, < 8 g/dL, and < 9 g/dL) were associated with decreased mortality when compared to traditionally ‘liberal’ approaches (HgB < 10 g/dL), with p < 0.05. Results were robust across both frequentist and Bayesian analysis. As a surrogate for cost of care and use of hospital resources, the total number of PRBC units transfused to patients, length of stay in ICU, and length of stay in hospital were analyzed. We found that using a transfusion threshold < 7 g/dL compared to < 10 g/dL substantially decreased the number of PRBC units transfused. In three of five cohorts, the cohort with the lower HgB transfusion threshold or no transfusion had a significantly shorter length of stay in the ICU and in the hospital. The remaining two cohorts found no significant difference in the length of stays in ICU or hospital. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that conservative approaches to transfusions ( < 7 g/dL, < 8 g/dL, or < 9 g/dL) significantly reduce mortality and the number of PRBC units transfused when compared to more liberal approaches ( < 10 g/dL). Current evidence is unclear on the benefits of conservative approaches in reduction of ICU or hospital length of stay.

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