scholarly journals Effects of Not Intubating Non-Trauma Patients With Low Glasgow Coma Scale Scores: a Retrospective Study

2022 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-90
Author(s):  
Loui K Alsulimani ◽  
Ohoud Baajlan ◽  
Khalid Alghamdi ◽  
Raghad Alahmadi ◽  
Abdullah Bakhsh ◽  
...  

Background: Endotracheal intubation (EI) is a critical life-saving procedure commonly performed on emergency department (ED) patients who present with altered mental status (AMS).  Aims: We aimed to investigate the safety of observing, without EI, patients who present to the ED with decreased levels of consciousness (LOC).  Methods: We reviewed the data of all adult ED patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score ≤ 8, during the period between 2012 and 2018, in an academic tertiary care centre. Trauma patients were excluded. The patients were divided into two groups for comparison: those who were intubated and those who were not. Data on mortality, morbidity, and baseline clinical characteristics were collected and analysed.  Results: After screening 6334 electronic medical records of patients presenting to the ED with decreased LOC, only 257 patients met the inclusion criteria. 173 (67.3%) patients were intubated, while 84 (32.7%) were not. Among the intubated patients, 165 (95.4%) were intubated early (within two hours of presentation). Mortality, morbidity and length of stay for the intubated group were higher, although the baseline clinical characteristics were the same.  Conclusion: It might be safe to observe non-trauma emergency patients with a GCS score ≤ 8 without intubation. However, such decision should be taken carefully, as delayed intubation can be associated with higher mortality and morbidity

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel P. Davis ◽  
Kent M. Koprowicz ◽  
Craig D. Newgard ◽  
Mohamud Daya ◽  
Eileen M. Bulger ◽  
...  

Stroke ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nerses Sanossian ◽  
May A Kim-Tenser ◽  
David S Liebeskind ◽  
Adrian M Burgos ◽  
Scott Hamilton ◽  
...  

Background: Many patients with acute intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) clinically deteriorate between the time of paramedic assessment in the field and Emergency Department (ED) arrival. Cohort studies have used decline in the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score from prehospital assessment to ED assessment to identify patients with early clinical deterioration (ECD), but the degree of GCS decline that best correlates with poor final functional outcome has not been delineated. Methods: Consecutive cases with primary ICH on initial imaging were identified from the Field Administration of Stroke Therapy-Magnesium (FAST-MAG) phase 3 clinical trial of intravenous magnesium vs. placebo. All subjects underwent GCS evaluation in the field by paramedics within 2 hours from symptom onset, and again in the ED by study research coordinators. Poor outcome was defined as a modified Rankin Scale of 4 to 6 at 3-months. Deteriorations in GCS from one point through 10 points were evaluated in relation to poor final functional outcome through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and area under curve (AUC). Results: Among the 369 (22%) patients with primary ICH, mean [SD] age was 65 [13] years, 34% were women, 79% White race, 34% Hispanic ethnicity, 80% had pre-existing hypertension, 20% diabetes, 18% smokers. Paramedic on scene time was a median [IQR] of 23 [15-40] minutes from last known well and time of GCS assessment in the ED was a median of 140 [119-175] minutes after last known well. Glasgow Coma Scale scores were mean 14.4 (SD 1.5) and median 15 [15-15] in the field and mean 12.1 (SD 4.5) and median 15 [10-15] in the ED, and 59% had a poor outcome at 3 months. Frequency of deteriorations on the GCS included: ≥1 point - 38%, ≥2points - 31%, ≥3 points - 27%, ≥5 points - 21%, and ≥10 points - 13%. The best performing cutpoints on the the ROC for predicting poor final outcome were ECD definitions of GCS decline of >=1: sensitivity 54% and specificity 85%; and GCS decline of >=2: sensitivity 46% and specificity 91%. The c statistic for ECD defined as a 1 point GCS decline as a predictor of poor final outcome was 0.71 (95%CI 0.66, 0.76). Conclusions: Early clinical deterioration of GCS is common and its presence may be helpful in predicting poor outcome.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 353-360
Author(s):  
Sanjeev Rastogi

Road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a common cause of untimely death, particularly of youth. RTA mortality and morbidity are predominantly associated with trauma to the brain tissue resulting in traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is commonly employed to predict the prognosis of such cases at the time of hospital admission. A lower GCS score is invariably found to be associated with poor prognosis, often resulting in death or severely com­promised recovery. A 17-year-old male suffering from TBI due to a RTA was treated with Ayurveda after initially been kept under modern neurological care. The whole course of Ayurvedic therapy began 2 weeks after the initial trauma, continued for about 3 months, and resulted in coma reversal with near complete recovery. This case is one among few reports describing a complete recovery despite presence of bad prognostic predictors in TBI. This is the first such case reported where Ayurveda was used as the intervention in case of TBI, resulting in coma reversal and near complete recovery of neurological deficits.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 2279
Author(s):  
Rania Salah ◽  
Tamer Fakhri ◽  
Ahmed Gaber

Background: Many scoring models have been proposed for evaluating level of consciousness in trauma patients. The aim of this study is to compare Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and full outline of unresponsiveness (FOUR) score in predicting the morbidity and mortality of trauma paediatric patients.Methods: In this diagnostic accuracy study trauma paediatric patients hospitalized in emergency room (ER) of Menoufia University hospital were evaluated. GCS and FOUR score of each patient were simultaneously calculated on admission as well as 6, 12 and 24 hours after that. The predictive values of the two scores and their area under the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve were compared.Results: 100 patients were included in the present study (mean age 7.6±5.1; 77% male). Comparing the area under the ROC curve of GCS and FOUR score showed that these values were not different at any of the evaluated times: on admission (p=0.68), and 6 hours (p=0.13), 12 hours (p=0.18). However, The values of FOUR score was high accuracy than GCS score in predicting mortality in paediatric patients with ROC; 0.97, 0.89 respectively.Conclusions: The results of our study showed that, GCS and FOUR score have the same value in predicting the mortality of trauma patients in first 24 hours. However, FOUR score has high accuracy than GCS score after 24 hours. Both tools had high predictive power in predicting the outcome at the time of discharge.


Medicina ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Mustafa Kilic ◽  
Devrimsel Harika Ertem ◽  
Burak Ozdemir

Background and aim: Malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (MMCAI) usually leads to brain edema that may result in transtentorial herniation and brainstem compression. The prognosis of MMCAI is generally poor. The aim of this study was to discuss our experience with surgical decompression for MMCAI, and determine the association between timing of craniectomy and neurological outcomes. Methods: We identified consecutive patients diagnosed with MMCAI who underwent decompressive craniectomy (DC). Clinical and demographic data were obtained from electronic medical records, including: age, sex, preoperative Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, surgery timing, postoperative GCS scores, and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores. Results: This study included 27 stroke patients (aged 38–80 years) operated within 72 h of the onset of neurological symptoms. Sixteen, five, and six patients underwent DC within 24 h, between 24 and 48 h, and after 48 h after onset of symptoms, respectively. Five patients died after the surgery. Patients who underwent DC within 24 h and 24–48 h had better mean GCS scores than those who underwent DC after 48 h (p = 0.000, p = 0.015). In addition, patients who underwent DC within 24 h had better mean postoperative mRS scores (p = 0.000) than other patients. Patients older than 60 years had significantly lower GCS scores (p = 0.027) and higher mRS scores (p = 0.033) than younger patients. Conclusion: Our findings support that DC had satisfying outcomes in patients who underwent DC within 24 h. Older age and lower Glasgow Coma Scale scores among DC patients with MMCAI are associated with high morbidity and mortality.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samad Shams Vahdati ◽  
Jafar Ghobadi ◽  
MohammadReza Bazavar ◽  
Fatemeh Seifar

Background: Multi traumatic injuries impose health care concern and major burden for society. The Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) is a routine scale for assessing levels of consciousness and prognosis of traumatic patients. The Full outline of unresponsiveness (FOUR) score is a new coma scale developed to overcome the limitations of GCS. In this prospective study, we aimed to compare the predicting outcomes and inter-rater reliability of the GCS and FOUR score in a group of multi traumatic patients. 96 consecutive multi trauma patients admitted in emergency departments were enrolled in the study. GCS and FOUR score were documented on arrival to the emergency room. Their correlation with patients ‘outcomes was analyzed. In terms of predictive power for in-hospital mortality, calculated mortality rate was 33.1 for FOUR score and 30.21 for GCS. Mean value of GCS and FOUR score were 14.83 and 13.68, respectively. Mortality rate was determined 9.3% and mean duration of hospitalization was 7.86±8.73 days. In addition, inter-rater reliability was determined κ = 0.84 ± 0.01 for GCS score and κ = 0.86 ± 0.01 for FOUR score rating. Inter-rater reliability and outcome predictability for FOUR score was superior to the GCS in this study, therefore FOUR score can be considered as a viable alternative to the GCS in the emergency department by accurately predicting outcome and improving the quality of management in trauma patients. 


2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Levy

In an attempt to assess admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores and other radiographic variables after penetrating craniocerebral injury in relationship to outcome, the author evaluated a series of 294 patients with penetrating injuries who presented with a GCS score of 6 to 15 over a 6-year period. Entrance criteria required a replicable neurological examination that was not altered by the presence of hypotension, drugs/toxins, or systemic injury. All patients underwent surgical intervention and aggressive perioperative management, including resuscitative protocols, in the neurosurgical intensive care unit. The author previously devised prospective models of outcome remained unchanged in this series. The variables most predictive of death include admission GCS score and subarachnoid hemorrhage in one model and admission GCS score and pupillary changes in a second when pupillary response was definitive at admission (p ≤ 0.00005). Other important variables related to morbidity include admission GCS, bihemispheric injury when associated with intraventricular hemorrhage, and diffuse fragmentation (p ≤ 0.001). In this study a significant relationship between operative intervention and survival (p ≤ 0.01) was found in patients with an admission GCS scores of 6 to 8. No significant relationships between operative intervention and survival were found in patients with admission GCS scores of 9 to 12 and 13 to 15. A significant relationship between operative intervention and morbidity (p ≤ 0.01) was also demonstrated in patients with an admission GCS score of 12 to 15. No significant relationships between operative intervention and morbidity were found in patients with an admission GCS score of 6 to 8 and 9 to 12.


Author(s):  
Shao-Chun Wu ◽  
Cheng-Shyuan Rau ◽  
Spencer Kuo ◽  
Peng-Chen Chien ◽  
Hsiao-Yun Hsieh ◽  
...  

The reverse shock index (rSI) multiplied by Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score (rSIG), calculated by multiplying the GCS score with systolic blood pressure (SBP)/hear rate (HR), was proposed to be a reliable triage tool for identifying risk of in-hospital mortality in trauma patients. This study was designed to externally validate the accuracy of the rSIG in the prediction of mortality in our cohort of trauma patients, in comparison with those that were predicted by the Revised Trauma Score (RTS), shock index (SI), and Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS). Adult trauma patients aged ≥20 years who were admitted to the hospital from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2017, were included in this study. The rSIG, RTS, and SI were calculated according to the initial vital signs and GCS scores of patients upon arrival at the emergency department (ED). The end-point of primary outcome is in-hospital mortality. Discriminative power of each score to predict mortality was measured using area under the curve (AUC) by plotting the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for 18,750 adult trauma patients, comprising 2438 patients with isolated head injury (only head Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) ≥ 2) and 16,312 without head injury (head AIS ≤ 1). The predictive accuracy of rSIG was significantly lower than that of RTS in all trauma patients (AUC 0.83 vs. AUC 0.85, p = 0.02) and in patients with isolated head injury (AUC 0.82 vs. AUC 0.85, p = 0.02). For patients without head injury, no difference was observed in the predictive accuracy between rSIG and RTS (AUC 0.83 vs. AUC 0.83, p = 0.97). Based on the cutoff value of 14.0, the rSIG can predict the probability of dying in trauma patients without head injury with a sensitivity of 61.5% and specificity of 94.5%. The predictive accuracy of both rSIG and RTS is significantly poorer than that of TRISS, in all trauma patients (AUC 0.93) or in patients with (AUC 0.89) and without head injury (AUC 0.92). In addition, SI had the significantly worse predictive accuracy than all of the other three models in all trauma patients (AUC 0.57), and the patients with (AUC 0.53) or without (AUC 0.63) head injury. This study revealed that rSIG had a significantly higher predictive accuracy of mortality than SI in all of the studied population but a lower predictive accuracy of mortality than RTS in all adult trauma patients and in adult patients with isolated head injury. In addition, in the adult patients without head injury, rSIG had a similar performance as RTS to the predictive risk of mortality of the patients.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document