Intensive care for severe head injury patients is very important in the prevention and treatment of secondary brain injury. However, in a resources constraint environment and limited availability of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in the hospitals, not all severe head injury patients will receive ICU care. This prospective study is aimed to evaluate the outcome of severe head injured patients who received ICU and general ward care in Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) over a 6-month period. A total of thirty five severe head injury patients were admitted. Twenty three patients (65.7%) were ventilated in general ward whereas twelve patients (34.3%) were ventilated in ICU. Overall one month mortality in this study was 25.7%. Patients who received ICU care had a lower one month mortality than those who received general ward care (16.7% vs 30.4%), although it was not statistically different. Multivariate analysis revealed only GCS on admission (OR 0.731; 95% CI 0.460 to 0.877; P=0.042) as the independent predictive factor for one month mortality in this study.
Patients with isolated severe head injury with diffuse axonal injury and without any surgical lesion may be treated safely without cerebral resuscitation and intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring. Seventy two patients were divided into three groups of patients receiving treatment based on ICP-CPP-targeted, or conservative methods either with or without ventilation support. The characteristics of these three groups were compared based on age, gender, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), pupillary reaction to light, computerized tomography scanning according to the Marshall classification, duration of intensive care unit (ICU) stays, Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) and possible complications. There were higher risk of mortality (p < 0.001), worse GCS improvement upon discharge (p < 0.001) and longer ICU stays (p = 0.016) in ICP group compared to Intubation group. There were no significant statistical differences of GOS at 3rd and 6th months between all three groups.
The outcome of 151 children less than 15 years of age and admitted within 24 h of head injury was studied in relation to clinical and computed tomography (CT) scan features. Thirty one (20.5%) had a poor outcome (24 died, 6 were severely disabled at 6 months after injury and 1 was in a persistent vegetative state) while 120 (79.5%) had a good outcome (89 recovered well and 31 were moderately disabled). Factors associated with a poor outcome were Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score 24 h following injury, presence of hypoxia on admission and CT scan features of subarachnoid haemorrhage, diffuse axonal injury and brain swelling. GCS scores alone, in the absence of other factors, had limited predictive value. The prognostic value of GCS scores < 8 was enhanced two-to fourfold by the presence of hypoxia. The additional presence of the CT scan features mentioned above markedly increased the probability of a poor outcome to > 0.8, modified only by the presence of GCS scores > 12. Correct predictions were made in 90.1% of patients, indicating that it is possible to estimate the severity of a patient's injury based on a small subset of clinical and radiological criteria that are readily available.
The first Malaysian National Trauma Database was launched in May 2006 with five tertiary referral centres to determine the fundamental data on major trauma, subsequently to evaluate the major trauma management and to come up with guidelines for improved trauma care. A prospective study, using standardized and validated questionnaires, was carried out from May 2006 till April 2007 for all cases admitted and referred to the participating hospitals. During the one year period, 123,916 trauma patients were registered, of which 933 (0.75%) were classified as major trauma. Patients with blunt injury made up for 83.9% of cases and RTA accounted for 72.6% of injuries with 64.9% involving motorcyclist and pillion rider. 42.8% had severe head injury with an admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of 3-8 and the Revised Trauma Score (RTS) of 5-6 were recorded in 28.8% of patients. The distribution of Injury Severity Score (ISS) showed that 42.9% of cases were in the range of 16-24. Only 1.9% and 6.3% of the patients were reviewed by the Emergency Physician and Surgeon respectively. Patients with admission systolic blood pressure of less than 90 mmHg had a death rate of 54.6%. Patients with severe head injury (GCS < 9), 45.1% died while 79% patients with moderate head injury survived. There were more survivors within the higher RTS range compared to the lower RTS. Patients with direct admission accounted for 52.3% of survivors and there were 61.7% survivors for referred cases. In conclusion, NTrD first report has successfully demonstrated its significance in giving essential data on major trauma in Malaysia, however further expansion of the study may reflect more comprehensive trauma database in this country.
The determination of cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) is regarded as vital in monitoring patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Besides indicating the status of cerebral blood flow (CBF), it also reveals the status of intracranial pressure (ICP). The abnormal or suboptimal level of CPP is commonly correlated with high values of ICP and therefore with poor patient outcomes. Eighty-two patients were divided into three groups of patients receiving treatment based on CPP and CBF, ICP alone, and conservative methods during two different observation periods. The characteristics of these three groups were compared based on age, sex, time between injury and hospital arrival, Glasgow Coma Scale score, pupillary reaction to light, surgical intervention, and computerized tomography scanning findings according to the Marshall classification system. Only time between injury and arrival (p = 0.001) was statistically significant. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportions of good outcomes between the multimodality group compared with the group of patients that underwent a single intracranial-based monitoring method and the group that received no monitoring (p = 0.003) based on a disability rating scale after a follow up of 12 months. Death was the focus of outcome in this study in which the multimodality approach to monitoring had superior results.