Clinical Features and Prognostic Factors of Head Injury in Less Than Two-Year-Old Children

Kim, Jin Kwan; Park, Jung Yul; Cho, Tai Hyoung; Kwon, Taek Hyun; Lim, Dong Jun; Chung, Yong Ku; Lee, Ki Chan; Lee, Hoon Kap

Abstract

The brain and intracranial compartment undergo a multiplicity of physiologic and anatomical changes which influence the type of head injury and response to such injury, especially for those children in first two years of age in whom development of skull and brain is still undertaking. Thus, special attention to recognize and manage these children from such injury seems mandatory. Purpose of this study is to analyze the related causes for the head injury in this age group with various clinical parameters influencing the outcome. A total of 68 children less than two years of age who were admitted to our institution after head trauma were included in this retrospective study. The causes of head injury along with other clinical settings, such as type of pathologies, Pediatric Glassgow Coma Scale(PGCS), age, operation, hypoxia, shock, seizure, anemia, abnormal pupillary response, were reviewed and clinical outcome related with these parameters were analysed. The mean duration of admission period was 15 days and mean follow-up period was 29.4 months. Most common mode of injury was stairway injury(32.3%), followed by in-car accident(19.1%), with suspected child abuse being only 2.9%. Cerebral contusion was the most frequent diagnosis being 43 cases(63.2%), followed by skull fracture in 31(45.6%). For the outcome related to various categories, 5 cases of death were due to diffuse axonal injury or intracranial hemorrhage, but most simple linear fractures were not associated with underlying brain injury. Among those required the operation(18 cases), subdural and/or epidural hematoma were the most common pathology(50%), followed by subdural hygroma and depressed skull fracture. The outcome, however, was not related to type of pathology. Instead, it was rather closely related to the initial PGCS. The PGCS at admission was found out to be the major predicting factor to outcome. In overall, 34/36(94.4%) cases with normal PGCS in these age groups showed good recovery with deaths being 5/7(71.4%) cases of PGCS