Management and perioperative outcomes of traumatic brain injury: retrospective study

Abstract

Introduction: Cranioencephalic traumatism (CET) is a cause of mortality and morbidity in the surgical patient. However, the perioperative management of this entity has not been evaluated in the country's health institutions, despite its high disease burden and potential adverse clinical outcomes.Objective: To evaluate the clinical characteristics of surgical TBI and perioperative outcomes.Methods: Descriptive study of historical review conducted at the Hospital San Vicente Fundación, Medellín, Colombia. Data were collected from the medical records of patients over 13 years of age diagnosed with moderate-severe TBI between 2011 and 2014. Clinical variables, perioperative management, and clinical outcomes up to discharge were analyzed. An exploratory analysis was performed between perioperative management and postoperative mortality or neurological dysfunction.Results: CET was most common in the young male population (89.3%). Severe trauma occurred in 71.1% of patients. Perioperative mortality was 16%, and 54% presented neurological disability at discharge. A strong association was found between mortality or neurological dysfunction and severity of injury and perioperative hypotension.Conclusion: The study found that surgical CET was a high morbidity and perioperative mortality event, highly related to the severity of the injury and the hemodynamic stability of the patient. Despite this, intraoperative hemodynamic and metabolic monitoring remains limited in more than 50% of these patients' surgical procedures.