• C S Robertson, A B Valadka, H J Hannay, C F Contant, S P Gopinath, M Cormio, M Uzura, and R G Grossman.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA. claudiar@bcm.tmc.edu
• Crit. Care Med. 1999 Oct 1;27(10):2086-95.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to compare the effects of two acute-care management strategies on the frequency of jugular venous desaturation and refractory intracranial hypertension and on long-term neurologic outcome in patients with severe head injury.DesignRandomized clinical trial.SettingLevel I trauma hospital.PatientsOne hundred eighty-nine adults admitted in coma because of severe head injury.InterventionsPatients were assigned to either cerebral blood flow (CBF)-targeted or intracranial pressure (ICP)-targeted management protocols during randomly assigned time blocks. In the CBF-targeted protocol, cerebral perfusion pressure was kept at >70 mm Hg and PaCO2 was kept at approximately 35 torr (4.67 kPa). In the ICP-targeted protocol, cerebral perfusion pressure was kept at >50 mm Hg and hyperventilation to a PaCO2 of 25-30 torr (3.33-4.00 kPa) was used to treat intracranial hypertension.Measurements And Main ResultsThe CBF-targeted protocol reduced the frequency of jugular desaturation from 50.6% to 30% (p = .006). Even when the frequency of jugular desaturation was adjusted for all confounding factors that were significant, the risk of cerebral ischemia was 2.4-fold greater with the ICP-targeted protocol. Despite the reduction in secondary ischemic insults, there was no difference in neurologic outcome. Failure to alter long-term neurologic outcome was probably attributable to two major factors. A low jugular venous oxygen saturation was treated in both groups, minimizing the injury that occurred in the ICP-targeted group. The beneficial effects of the CBF-targeted protocol may have been offset by a five-fold increase in the frequency of adult respiratory distress syndrome.ConclusionsSecondary ischemic insults caused by systemic factors after severe head injury can be prevented with a targeted management protocol. However, potential adverse effects of this management strategy may offset these beneficial effects.

44 keywords...

hide…