METHODS: The International Consensus Meeting on the Role of Decompressive Craniectomy in the Management of Traumatic Brain Injury took place in Cambridge, UK, on the 28th and 29th September 2017. The meeting was jointly organised by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), AO/Global Neuro and the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma. Discussions and voting were organised around six pre-specified themes: (1) primary DC for mass lesions, (2) secondary DC for intracranial hypertension, (3) peri-operative care, (4) surgical technique, (5) cranial reconstruction and (6) DC in low- and middle-income countries.
RESULTS: The invited participants discussed existing published evidence and proposed consensus statements. Statements required an agreement threshold of more than 70% by blinded voting for approval.
CONCLUSIONS: In this manuscript, we present the final consensus-based recommendations. We have also identified areas of uncertainty, where further research is required, including the role of primary DC, the role of hinge craniotomy and the optimal timing and material for skull reconstruction.
Methods and analysis: The Global Neurotrauma Outcomes Study (GNOS) is a multi-centre, international, prospective observational cohort study. Any unit performing emergency surgery for TBI worldwide will be eligible to participate. All TBI patients who receive emergency surgery in any given consecutive 30-day period beginning between 1st of November 2018 and 31st of December 2019 in a given participating unit will be included. Data will be collected via a secure online platform in anonymised form. The primary outcome measures for the study will be 14-day mortality (or survival to hospital discharge, whichever comes first). Final day of data collection for the primary outcome measure is February 13th. Secondary outcome measures include return to theatre and surgical site infection.
Ethics and dissemination: This project will not affect clinical practice and has been classified as clinical audit following research ethics review. Access to source data will be made available to collaborators through national or international anonymised datasets on request and after review of the scientific validity of the proposed analysis by the central study team.
OBJECTIVE: The GEO-TBI: Incidence study aims to describe TBI epidemiology and outcomes according to development indices, and to highlight best practices to facilitate further comparative research.
DESIGN: Multi-centre, international, registry-based, prospective cohort study.
SUBJECTS: Any unit managing TBI and participating in the GEO-TBI registry will be eligible to join the study. Each unit will select a 90-day study period. All TBI patients meeting the registry inclusion criteria (neurosurgical/ICU admission or neurosurgical operation) during the selected study period will be included in the GEO-TBI: Incidence.
METHODS: All units will form a study team, that will gain local approval, identify eligible patients and input data. Data will be collected via the secure registry platform and validated after collection. Identifiers may be collected if required for local utility in accordance with the GEO-TBI protocol.
DATA: Data related to initial presentation, interventions and short-term outcomes will be collected in line with the GEO-TBI core dataset, developed following consensus from an iterative survey and feedback process. Patient demographics, injury details, timing and nature of interventions and post-injury care will be collected alongside associated complications. The primary outcome measures for the study will be the Glasgow Outcome at Discharge Scale (GODS) and 14-day mortality. Secondary outcome measures will be mortality and extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOSE) at the most recent follow-up timepoint.
METHODS: The registry was developed in an iterative consensus-based manner by a panel of neurotrauma professionals. Proposed registry objectives, structure, and data points were established in 2 international multidisciplinary neurotrauma meetings, after which a survey consisting of the same data points was circulated within the global neurotrauma community. The survey results were disseminated in a final meeting to reach a consensus on the most pertinent registry variables.
RESULTS: A total of 156 professionals from 53 countries, including both high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries, responded to the survey. The final consensus-based registry includes patients with TBI who required neurosurgical admission, a neurosurgical procedure, or a critical care admission. The data set comprised clinically pertinent information on demographics, injury characteristics, imaging, treatments, and short-term outcomes. Based on the consensus, the Global Epidemiology and Outcomes following Traumatic Brain Injury (GEO-TBI) registry was established.
CONCLUSION: The GEO-TBI registry will enable high-quality data collection, clinical auditing, and research activity, and it is supported by the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies and the National Institute of Health Research Global Health Program. The GEO-TBI registry ( https://geotbi.org ) is now open for participant site recruitment. Any center involved in TBI management is welcome to join the collaboration to access the registry.
METHODS: We searched nine international biomedical databases for published, in-progress, and unpublished evidence. Studies were independently screened by two reviewers against predefined eligibility criteria and critically appraised using established instruments. Our primary outcomes of interest were symptom, medication, and combined symptom and medication scores. Secondary outcomes of interest included cost-effectiveness and safety. Data were descriptively summarized and then quantitatively synthesized using random-effects meta-analyses.
RESULTS: We identified 5960 studies of which 160 studies satisfied our eligibility criteria. There was a substantial body of evidence demonstrating significant reductions in standardized mean differences (SMD) of symptom (SMD -0.53, 95% CI -0.63, -0.42), medication (SMD -0.37, 95% CI -0.49, -0.26), and combined symptom and medication (SMD -0.49, 95% CI -0.69, -0.30) scores while on treatment that were robust to prespecified sensitivity analyses. There was in comparison a more modest body of evidence on effectiveness post-discontinuation of AIT, suggesting a benefit in relation to symptom scores.
CONCLUSIONS: AIT is effective in improving symptom, medication, and combined symptom and medication scores in patients with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis while on treatment, and there is some evidence suggesting that these benefits are maintained in relation to symptom scores after discontinuation of therapy.
METHODS: The international consensus meeting on post-traumatic CP was held during the International Conference on Recent Advances in Neurotraumatology (ICRAN), in Naples, Italy, in June 2018. This meeting was endorsed by the Neurotrauma Committee of the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS), the NIHR Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma, and several other neurotrauma organizations. Discussions and voting were organized around 5 pre-specified themes: (1) indications and technique, (2) materials, (3) timing, (4) hydrocephalus, and (5) paediatric CP.
RESULTS: The participants discussed published evidence on each topic and proposed consensus statements, which were subject to ratification using anonymous real-time voting. Statements required an agreement threshold of more than 70% for inclusion in the final recommendations.
CONCLUSIONS: This document is the first set of practical consensus-based clinical recommendations on post-traumatic CP, focusing on timing, materials, complications, and surgical procedures. Future research directions are also presented.
METHODS: To assess neurosurgery research in Afghanistan, searches were conducted in databases for articles originating from Afghanistan neurosurgeons and/or neurosurgery departments. We developed a 30-question English-language survey to assess the current state of neurosurgical capacity. Surveys were distributed to neurosurgeons throughout Afghanistan via email with the assistance of our English-speaking Afghan neurosurgical colleagues.
RESULTS: The neurosurgical disease burden of Afghanistan is poorly understood due to the lack of centralized and accessible databases. There are an estimated 124 neurosurgeons in the country based on modeled data. Surveys showed that government hospitals are poorly equipped, with private and military hospitals having access to slightly more modernized equipment but less accessible to the general population. The country lacks neurosurgery research with only 15 papers discovered through database searches deemed relevant to neurosurgery with Afghan affiliations.
CONCLUSIONS: Afghanistan is facing existential humanitarian threats. Developing the country's neurosurgical capacity and general health care capabilities is crucial. Emphasis on training physicians and establishing communication routes, and aid deliverance with the country and its leaders is key to overcoming the many crises it faces.