J Korean Neurotraumatol Soc.  2010 Dec;6(2):132-137. 10.13004/jknts.2010.6.2.132.

The Effect of Polytrauma on the Follow-Up Neuroimaging and Patients' Prognosis

• Kim YH
• Kim HJ

• KMID: 2106799
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.13004/jknts.2010.6.2.132

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Our point of interest was focused on the relationship between prognosis and radiographic findings in brain computed tomography (CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from long-term bed-ridden patients due to polytrauma with head injury who had been followed-up for more than 6 months.
METHODS
We had reviewed 47 long-term (>6 months) admitted patients due to polytrauma for 8 years. We retrospectively studied patients' prognosis using clinical parameters such as age, gender, duration of admission, mode of injury, previous medical disease, associated injuries, diffuse axonal injury, space occupying lesion, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) and operative procedures done.
RESULTS
GOS was correlated well with GCS score in polytrauma patients (p<0.001). The operative procedure (decompressive craniectomy) had strong impact on the formation of ventriculomegaly (Evans index> or =0.3; p<0.001). The mode of injury also had statistical significance on post-traumatic cerebral infarction (p=0.022).
CONCLUSION
Our study reveals the effect of polytrauma has significant impact on the follow-up neuroimaging and patients' prognosis. But further study using larger number of experimental groups is needed for more statistically significant result.

Keyword

Polytrauma; Head injury; Prognosis; Outcome

MeSH Terms

Brain
Cerebral Infarction
Craniocerebral Trauma
Diffuse Axonal Injury
Follow-Up Studies
Glasgow Coma Scale
Glasgow Outcome Scale
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Neuroimaging
Prognosis
Retrospective Studies
Surgical Procedures, Operative

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