Cause of decline in head-injury mortality rate in San Diego County, California

1985 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 528-531 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melville R. Klauber ◽  
Lawrence F. Marshall ◽  
Belinda M. Toole ◽  
Sharen L. Knowlton ◽  
Sharon A. Bowers
Keyword(s):  
Head Injury ◽  
San Diego ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
San Diego County ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Severity Of Injury ◽  
Prehospital Emergency ◽  
Injured Patients ◽  
Number Of Individuals

✓ Even with an increasing population, there were 100 fewer deaths due to head injury in San Diego County, California, in 1982 compared to 1980. During the 5 years from 1976 to 1980 there was nearly a constant death rate from head injuries, followed in the next 2 years by a decline of 24%. The number of deaths at the scene of injury declined 28%, and the number of individuals listed as dead on arrival at the hospital declined 68%. Mortality rates in the emergency room increased slightly and later death rates declined slightly. Mortality rates of hospitalized patients, adjusted for severity of injury, did not vary materially by year. This decline in deaths due to head injury followed a marked improvement in the county's emergency ground and prehospital air evacuation services. The data strongly suggest that advanced prehospital emergency medical services can substantially reduce mortality rates in head-injured patients. The authors postulate that some patients who ordinarily “would die now talk” because of early airway and circulatory management by highly trained paramedical personnel and airborne trauma specialists. Despite a search for other factors that might explain these observations, no satisfactory alternatives could be identified.

Head injury mortality in two centers with different emergency medical services and intensive care

1989 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin R. T. Colohan ◽  
Wayne M. Alves ◽  
Cynthia R. Gross ◽  
James C. Torner ◽  
V. S. Mehta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head Injury ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Striking Similarity ◽  
Prehospital Emergency Care ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Severe Injuries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Severity Of Injury

✓ The authors report data collected prospectively on 551 cases of head injury in New Delhi, India, and 822 cases in Charlottesville, Virginia. The mortality rate, adjusted for initial severity of injury, was 11.0% in New Delhi versus 7.2% in Charlottesville (p < 0.02). There was a striking similarity in mortality rates at both centers when comparing patients with the least severe head injuries and those with the most severe injuries according to the motor score of the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS M). However, in the group with an abnormal but purposeful motor response (GCS M = 5), the mortality rate was 12.5% in New Delhi versus 4.8% in Charlottesville (p < 0.01). The relative absence of prehospital emergency care and the delay in admission after head injury in New Delhi are cited as two possible causes for the differences in mortality rates in this subgroup of patients with “moderate” head injuries.

Treatment of head injuries in the American Civil War

1993 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 838-845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard H. Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Head Injury ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Closed Head Injury ◽  
Gunshot Wounds ◽  
American Civil War ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Severity Of Injury ◽  
Surgical History ◽  
Fine Print

✓ At the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865), a great deal was known about closed head injury and gunshot wounds to the head. Compression was differentiated from concussion, but localization of lesions was not precise. Ether and especially chloroform were used to provide anesthesia. Failure to understand how to prevent infection discouraged physicians from aggressive surgery. Manuals written to educate inexperienced doctors at the onset of the war provide an overview of the advice given by senior surgeons. The Union experiences in the treatment of head injury in the Civil War were discussed in the three surgical volumes of The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. Wounds were divided into incised and puncture wounds, blunt injuries, and gunshot wounds, which were analyzed separately. Because the patients were not stratified by severity of injury and because there was no neuroimaging, it is difficult to understand the clinical problems and the effectiveness of surgery. Almost immediately after the war, increased knowledge about cerebral localization and the development of antisepsis (and then asepsis) permitted the development of modern neurosurgery.

Influence of the type of intracranial lesion on outcome from severe head injury

1982 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas A. Gennarelli ◽  
Gerri M. Spielman ◽  
Thomas W. Langfitt ◽  
Philip L. Gildenberg ◽  
Timothy Harrington ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head Injury ◽  
Severe Head Injury ◽  
Acute Subdural Hematoma ◽  
Good Recovery ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Injury Group ◽  
Lesion Type ◽  
Severity Of Injury ◽  
Gcs Score ◽  
Injured Patients

✓ Recent studies attempting to define the outcome from severe head injury have implied, directly or indirectly, that the severity of injury (as determined by the Glasgow Coma Scale (GSC)) is the sole determinant of outcome. Little attention has been focused on the type of lesion that causes the low GCS score, and there exists an unstated hypothesis that the lesion type is not an important determinant of outcome. No attempt has been made to determine whether patients who have the same GCS score caused by different lesions have the same or different outcomes. Since this is impossible to test without a large number of cases, data were obtained from seven head-injury centers on patients who fulfilled the Glasgow criteria for severe head injury (GCS ≤ 8 for at least 6 hours). Patients were categorized according to a simple classification system comprising seven lesion types, each of which was further subdivided into two GCS score ranges (3 to 5 and 6 to 8). Of 1107 patients, the overall mortality was 41%, but ranged from 9% to 74% among the different lesion categories. Conversely, 26% had good recovery (at 3 months), but among the different lesion groups the range was 6% to 68%. Acute subdural hematoma with GCS scores of 3 to 5 was uniformly the worst problem (74% mortality and 8% good recovery), whereas diffuse injury coma of 6 to 24 hours with GCS scores of 6 to 8 had 9% mortality and 68% incidence of good recovery. Results of this study demonstrate marked heterogeneity within this severe head-injury group and point out that patients with the same GCS score have markedly different outcomes, depending on the causative lesion. The type of lesion is thus as important a factor in determining outcome as is the GCS score, and both must be considered when describing severely head-injured patients.

Prophylactic phenytoin in severe head injuries

1979 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard N. W. Wohns ◽  
Allen R. Wyler
Keyword(s):  
Retrospective Study ◽  
Head Injury ◽  
High Probability ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Posttraumatic Epilepsy ◽  
Fine Print

✓ We are reporting a retrospective study of 62 patients whose head injury was sufficiently severe to cause a high probability of posttraumatic epilepsy. Of 50 patients treated with phenytoin, 10% developed epilepsy of late onset. Twelve patients not treated with phenytoin but who had head injuries of equal magnitude had a 50% incidence of epilepsy. These data from a highly selected group of patients with severe head injuries confirm the bias that treatment with phenytoin decreases the incidence of posttraumatic epilepsy.

Adverse effects of prolonged hyperventilation in patients with severe head injury: a randomized clinical trial

1991 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 731-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Paul Muizelaar ◽  
Anthony Marmarou ◽  
John D. Ward ◽  
Hermes A. Kontos ◽  
Sung C. Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Ischemia ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cerebral Vasoconstriction ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Severity Of Injury ◽  
Head Injured ◽  
Injured Patients ◽  
To Receive

✓ There is still controversy over whether or not patients should be hyperventilated after traumatic brain injury, and a randomized trial has never been conducted. The theoretical advantages of hyperventilation are cerebral vasoconstriction for intracranial pressure (ICP) control and reversal of brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) acidosis. Possible disadvantages include cerebral vasoconstriction to such an extent that cerebral ischemia ensues, and only a short-lived effect on CSF pH with a loss of HCO3− buffer from CSF. The latter disadvantage might be overcome by the addition of the buffer tromethamine (THAM), which has shown some promise in experimental and clinical use. Accordingly, a trial was performed with patients randomly assigned to receive normal ventilation (PaCO2 35 ± 2 mm Hg (mean ± standard deviation): control group), hyperventilation (PaCO2 25 ± 2 mm Hg: HV group), or hyperventilation plus THAM (PaCO2 25 ± 2 mm Hg: HV + THAM group). Stratification into subgroups of patients with motor scores of 1–3 and 4–5 took place. Outcome was assessed according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale at 3, 6, and 12 months. There were 41 patients in the control group, 36 in the HV group, and 36 in the HV + THAM group. The mean Glasgow Coma Scale score for each group was 5.7 ± 1.7, 5.6 ± 1.7, and 5.9 ± 1.7, respectively; this score and other indicators of severity of injury were not significantly different. A 100% follow-up review was obtained. At 3 and 6 months after injury the number of patients with a favorable outcome (good or moderately disabled) was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in the hyperventilated patients than in the control and HV + THAM groups. This occurred only in patients with a motor score of 4–5. At 12 months posttrauma this difference was not significant (p = 0.13). Biochemical data indicated that hyperventilation could not sustain alkalinization in the CSF, although THAM could. Accordingly, cerebral blood flow (CBF) was lower in the HV + THAM group than in the control and HV groups, but neither CBF nor arteriovenous difference of oxygen data indicated the occurrence of cerebral ischemia in any of the three groups. Although mean ICP could be kept well below 25 mm Hg in all three groups, the course of ICP was most stable in the HV + THAM group. It is concluded that prophylactic hyperventilation is deleterious in head-injured patients with motor scores of 4–5. When sustained hyperventilation becomes necessary for ICP control, its deleterious effect may be overcome by the addition of THAM.

Impairment of helper T-cell function and lymphokineactivated killer cytotoxicity following severe head injury

1991 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 766-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith B. Quattrocchi ◽  
Edmund H. Frank ◽  
Claramae H. Miller ◽  
Asim Amin ◽  
Bernardo W. Issel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
T Cell ◽  
Head Injury ◽  
Severe Head Injury ◽  
Cell Cytotoxicity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Lak Cell ◽  
Head Injured ◽  
Injured Patients ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Infection is a major complication of severe head injury, occurring in 50% to 75% of patients who survive to hospitalization. Previous investigations of immune activity following head injury have demonstrated suppression of helper T-cell activation. In this study, the in vitro production of interferon-gamma (INF-γ), interleukin-1 (IL-1), and interleukin-2 (IL-2) was determined in 25 head-injured patients following incubation of peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL's) with the lymphocyte mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA). In order to elucidate the functional status of cellular cytotoxicity, lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell cytotoxicity assays were performed both prior to and following incubation of PBL's with IL-2 in five patients with severe head injury. The production of INF-γ and IL-2 by PHA-stimulated PBL's was maximally depressed within 24 hours of injury (p < 0.001 for INF-γ, p = 0.035 for IL-2) and partially normalized within 21 days of injury. There was no change in the production of IL-1. When comparing the in vitro LAK cell cytotoxicity of PBL's from head-injured patients and normal subjects, there was a significant depression in LAK cell cytotoxicity both prior to (p = 0.010) and following (p < 0.001) incubation of PBL's with IL-2. The results of this study indicate that IL-2 and INF-γ production, normally required for inducing cell-mediated immunity, is suppressed following severe head injury. The failure of IL-2 to enhance LAK cell cytotoxicity suggests that factors other than decreased IL-2 production, such as inhibitory soluble mediators or suppressor lymphocytes, may be responsible for the reduction in cellular immune activity following severe head injury. These findings may have significant implications in designing clinical studies aimed at reducing the incidence of infection following severe head injury.

The outcome of severe closed head injury

1991 ◽  
Vol 75 (Supplement) ◽  
pp. S28-S36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence F. Marshall ◽  
Theresa Gautille ◽  
Melville R. Klauber ◽  
Howard M. Eisenberg ◽  
John A. Jane ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Head Injury ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Severe Head Injury ◽  
Closed Head Injury ◽  
Data Bank ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Severity Of Injury ◽  
Gcs Score ◽  
Fine Print ◽  
Overall Mortality

✓ The outcome of severe head injury was prospectively studied in patients enrolled in the Traumatic Coma Data Bank (TCDB) during the 45-month period from January 1, 1984, through September 30, 1987. Data were collected on 1030 consecutive patients admitted with severe head injury (defined as a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 8 or less following nonsurgical resuscitation). Of these, 284 either were brain-dead on admission or had a gunshot wound to the brain. Patients in these two groups were excluded, leaving 746 patients available for this analysis. The overall mortality rate for the 746 patients was 36%, determined at 6 months postinjury. As expected, the mortality rate progressively decreased from 76% in patients with a postresuscitation GCS score of 3 to approximately 18% for patients with a GCS score of 6, 7, or 8. Among the patients with nonsurgical lesions (overall mortality rate, 31%), the mortality rate was higher in those having an increased likelihood of elevated intracranial pressure as assessed by a new classification of head injury based on the computerized tomography findings. In the 276 patients undergoing craniotomy, the mortality rate was 39%. Half of the patients with acute subdural hematomas died — a substantial improvement over results in previous reports. Outcome differences between the four TCDB centers were small and were, in part, explicable by differences in patient age and the type and severity of injury. This study describes head injury outcome in four selected head-injury centers. It indicates that a mortality rate of approximately 35% is to be expected in such patients admitted to experienced neurosurgical units.

Prediction tree for severely head-injured patients

1991 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung C. Choi ◽  
Jan P. Muizelaar ◽  
Thomas Y. Barnes ◽  
Anthony Marmarou ◽  
Danny M. Brooks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prognostic Factors ◽  
Predictive Accuracy ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Pupillary Response ◽  
Prognostic Indicators ◽  
Critical Threshold ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Intermediate Outcomes ◽  
Head Injured ◽  
Injured Patients

✓ Prediction tree techniques are employed in the analysis of data from 555 patients admitted to the Medical College of Virginia hospitals with severe head injuries. Twenty-three prognostic indicators are examined to predict the distribution of 12-month outcomes among the five Glasgow Outcome Scale categories. A tree diagram, illustrating the prognostic pattern, provides critical threshold levels that split the patients into subgroups with varying degrees of risk. It is a visually useful way to look at the prognosis of head-injured patients. In previous analyses addressing this prediction problem, the same set of prognostic factors (age, motor score, and pupillary response) was used for all patients. These approaches might be considered inflexible because more informative prediction may be achieved by somewhat different combinations of factors for different patients. Tree analysis reveals that the pattern of important prognostic factors differs among various patient subgroups, although the three previously mentioned factors are still of primary importance. For example, it is noted that information concerning intracerebral lesions is useful in predicting outcome for certain patients. The overall predictive accuracy of the tree technique for these data is 77.7%, which is somewhat higher than that obtained via standard prediction methods. The predictive accuracy is highest among patients who have a good recovery or die; it is lower for patients having intermediate outcomes.

Prehospital Care for Patients with Head Injury and its Relevance to Post Traumatic Prognosis

1987 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-20
Author(s):  
G. Singbartl
Keyword(s):  
Head Injury ◽  
Prehospital Care ◽  
Head Injuries ◽  
Cerebral Injury ◽  
Prehospital Emergency Care ◽  
Secondary Brain Damage ◽  
Thorax Trauma ◽  
Prehospital Emergency ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
Polytrauma Patients

Head injury has been demonstrated to be one of the most important lesions in polytrauma patients and of very decisive relevance to the posttraumatic prognosis. Moreover, other lesions and their sequelae (e.g. shock, thorax trauma) are known to worsen the primary cerebral injury by causing secondary brain damage due to hypotension and hypoxemia. This study considers the influence of prehospital emergency care to the posttraumatic prognosis in severe head injuries.

High-risk mild head injury

1997 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
John N. K. Hsiang ◽  
Theresa Yeung ◽  
Ashley L. M. Yu ◽  
Wai S. Poon
Keyword(s):  
Head Injury ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Mild Head Injury ◽  
Radiographic Findings ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Head Injured ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Gcs Score ◽  
Injured Patients ◽  
Fine Print

✓ The generally accepted definition of mild head injury includes Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores of 13 to 15. However, many studies have shown that there is a heterogeneous pathophysiology among patients with GCS scores in this range. The current definition of mild head injury is misleading because patients classified in this category can have severe sequelae. Therefore, a prospective study of 1360 head-injured patients with GCS scores ranging from 13 to 15 who were admitted to the neurosurgery service during 1994 and 1995 was undertaken to modify the current definition of mild head injury. Data regarding patients' age, sex, GCS score, radiographic findings, neurosurgical intervention, and 6-month outcome were collected and analyzed. The results of this study showed that patients with lower GCS scores tended to have suffered more serious injury. There was a statistically significant trend across GCS scores for percentage of patients with positive acute radiographic findings, percentage receiving neurosurgical interventions, and percentage with poor outcome. The presence of postinjury vomiting did not correlate with findings of acute radiographic abnormalities. Based on the results of this study, the authors divided all head-injured patients with GCS scores ranging from 13 to 15 into mild head injury and high-risk mild head injury groups. Mild head injury is defined as a GCS score of 15 without acute radiographic abnormalities, whereas high-risk mild head injury is defined as GCS scores of 13 or 14, or a GCS score of 15 with acute radiographic abnormalities. This more precise definition of mild head injury is simple to use and may help avoid the confusion caused by the current classification.

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